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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 099126780X
| 9780991267804
| B00GY9ORGE
| 4.31
| 94
| Dec 2012
| Nov 25, 2013
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews *newest review for this anthology "4.5 stars" Overall Getting Scrooged by Eden Bradley - Getting Scrooged is a super-steamy Reviewed for THC Reviews *newest review for this anthology "4.5 stars" Overall Getting Scrooged by Eden Bradley - Getting Scrooged is a super-steamy Christmas novella about an over-worked corporate mogul with something to prove, who never takes time out for herself. She finally finds her match in the man who is sent to negotiate a corporate merger between one of her companies, a small publishing house, and the larger one that is his employer. Holly and Ben were decent characters, but I felt like they were a little too much alike. Both had crappy lives growing up and both have driven, type-A personalities, but each for their own reasons. Holly’s dad always wished she was a boy to whom he could pass on his company, so she never quite felt like she measured up to his standards. Even though he passed away, she still feels like she has to prove to herself that she can be the kind of businessperson her father could have been proud of. As such, she drives herself into the ground, never taking time out except to occasionally have anonymous, no-strings sex with strangers she meets in bars. She turns forty on Christmas Eve and feels like life has passed her by and perhaps she’s missing out on something by not having a relationship. Ben, on the other hand, seems to have a pretty good handle on having fun and is driven more by the thrill of the hunt, so to speak. However, much like Holly, he isn’t excited about the upcoming holiday season. I guess I prefer for the hero and heroine to be more different – not polar opposites, but different enough that I feel like they’re going to genuinely enrich each other’s lives – and I didn’t necessarily sense that with Holly and Ben. Also, their personalities were just a little too far removed from my own for me to be able to fully relate to them. Where the author seems to excel is in her love scenes that, overall, are smokin’ hot. Holly and Ben alone are steamy enough, but add in Ben’s two friends and sometimes lovers, Kit and Justin, and their love scenes could start a four-alarm fire.;-) The menage is only a temporary one, though, to fulfill one of the wishes on Holly’s bucket list, when I usually prefer them to be more permanent. However, I did enjoy that all three men are Brits, because it’s somewhat rare to find foreigners in American-set contemporary romances. As much as I enjoyed the hot sex scenes, though, I’m not usually one to allow my brain to turn to mush because of them. Even making allowances for the characterizations, which were admittedly pretty decent for a novella, there were still a few little things that kept it from being a five-star read for me. First, I thought the author could have done a better job with blocking during dialogue. Sometimes the conversation runs on for a while with little or no character actions in between lines. The love scenes, while hot, were just a tad too chatty for my taste as well. Lastly, the whole story takes place over about four weeks time, during which there are big jumps forward in the story and a nearly two-week span where Holly and Ben are apart, so having them fall in love and marry so quickly perhaps wasn’t quite as believable as it could have been. However, I’ll allow that a little Dickensian magic on the side made it a bit easier to swallow. So overall, despite a few minor issues, Getting Scrooged was still a pretty enjoyable read. It was my first story by Eden Bradley, but certainly good enough to make me curious what she can do with a longer story format. Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations, including spicy M/F and M/M interactions, as well as a M/F/M/M menage, use of sex toys and anal play, which some readers may find offensive. Star Rating: 4 Not So Tiny Tim by Robin L. Rotham – Before picking up the A Kinky Christmas Carol anthology, I hadn’t really heard of Robin L. Rotham, so I had no idea what to expect from her writing. I’m very pleased to say that I ended up loving Not So Tiny Tim. It was a hot, fun, quick read that was equal parts sweet and super sexy. The love scenes are so scorching, I thought my eReader might go up in flames.;-) But at the same time, they, and the story in general, expressed an emotional connection that’s not always easy to find in erotic romance. Not to mention, unlike the first novella in the series, the menage in this one is a permanent one, which was more to my liking. So, ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours I spent reading this novella. Tim, the subject of the title (I’ll leave it to the reader’s imagination as to why he’s called that ;-)), is the nephew of Holly, the heroine of the first novella in the series, Getting Scrooged. He’s a successful video game developer, who as part of the Knight clan, is familiar with the trappings of wealth. However, he hasn’t really been living life. He keeps everyone he knows in carefully organized compartments: family, friend, or f*ck-buddy, and the last two never, ever overlap. Therefore, despite being in love with them both, he keeps his long-time best friend, Miranda, and his college buddy and current roommate, Peter, solidly relegated to the friend-zone. That all changes when a little magic brings Miranda and Pete together, making Tim long to join in. When we discover his reasons for keeping them at arm’s length all this time, it’s a very emotional moment that made me a little teary-eyed. Miranda is a sweetheart, a scientist who’s been friends with Tim since they were teenagers and has loved him from afar for thirteen years. It was totally adorable that she’d saved herself for him all that time, while hoping against hope that someday he would see her as more than just a friend. But having heard about Tim’s size and kinkiness, she’s also adventurous enough to have prepared herself for those things and is eager to take everything that both Tim and Peter can dish out. Miranda is a very loving heroine who’s accepting of both men and doesn’t hesitate to engage in all sorts of sex play with them. She also knows almost instantly that she wants a future with them both when the opportunity presents itself. Ever since a close intimate encounter in college, Peter has been attracted to his friend, but he knows Tim’s rule about not mixing friends and sex. He just doesn’t know why. Peter has spent the last several months living with Tim while the new house he designed for himself is being built, which has only deepened his feelings for Tim. Like Tim, Pete is bisexual, so when he finds the pretty Miranda at a bar, pining for Tim and reluctant to go to his Christmas celebration after having thrown herself at him with disastrous results, Pete offers to accompany her. Both of them hope it might make Tim jealous enough to do something about it. Pete is a Dom who isn’t totally overbearing, so I could appreciate how he gently pushes both Miranda and Tim outside their comfort zones and won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Although he only marginally knew Miranda before meeting her in the bar, he’s totally into her from that very second, so there was never a doubt in my mind that he deeply cared about her too. While their personalities don’t necessarily reflect classic geekiness, all three characters respective professions certainly suggest that they are, and I must say, these are three of the sexiest geeks I’ve ever read about.;-) I loved how both Miranda and Pete were long-time friends with Tim. It made the connection deeper and much more believable, because of their shared history. Since the story only takes place over a coupe of day’s time, Pete and Miranda’s feelings for each other develop very quickly, but I could definitely feel a connection there too. Tim’s long-held stubbornness about not becoming intimate with friends is pretty quickly overcome as well, so there were admittedly things in the story that easily might not have worked for me. However, the doorman, Frost, a common character in this series, who looks suspiciously like Santa Claus and has magical powers, brought a heartwarming flavor to the story and helped to make the short time span not as much of an issue. In the end, it seems that they were all fated to get together. Whatever it was about this novella, it undeniably hit a sweet spot for me, because I ended up loving it. This may have been my first read by Ms. Rotham, but I’ll definitely be taking a look at more of her work in the future. Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations, including spicy M/F and M/M interactions, as well as a M/F/M menage, talk of sex toys, a little bondage, mild dominant behavior, and anal sex, which some readers may find offensive. Star Rating: 5 *Marley In Chains by R.G. Alexander - Marley In Chains is the final novella in the A Kinky Christmas Carol series. This holiday-themed trilogy was written by three different authors, but the stories are connected by each being about a different member of the wealthy Knight family who all live in the same building, Dickens Towers, in Chicago. As with the other two novellas, the magical doorman, Frost, who looks suspiciously like Santa Claus plays a role as well, giving it a touch of whimsy. Overall, this was a pretty good wrap-up to the series with a few caveats which I’ll get to shortly. The heroine of this novella is Marley, cousin and super-assistant to Holly from the first story, Getting Scrooged. She was born into wealth, but her mother lost two husbands (for some reason I can’t recall now whether it was to death or divorce) and remarried a man who was not of her social station. This left Marley suddenly adrift in a public school, when she’d been used to private school, and being teased by the other students. In stepped best friends, Michael and Carlos, who became her defenders. The three were inseparable for the next six years until Marley turned eighteen. They had shared some sexual intimacies and were close to making love when Marley lost her parents to a car accident just before Christmas and later left town. She was gone for several years, but returned to become her cousin’s assistant four years earlier. However, she never contacted the men she’d been in love with and had never forgotten, so she doesn’t reconnect with them until Michael comes looking for her and asking for her help to bring Carlos back to the land of the living. I mostly understood Marley and the issues that sent her running seventeen years ago, but it takes a while for those issues to fully surface. Once they did, I didn’t feel like they were really given the weight they deserved and were overcome a little too quickly. However, I did still like Marley and thought she was a pretty good heroine. Marley’s heroes, Michael and Carlos, were devastated when she left town. Michael went on to become a champion boxer and now owns his own gym where he trains fighters and tries to keep at-risk youth out of trouble. Michael has always had strong family ties to fall back on, but Carlos didn’t. After Marley ran, Michael watched Carlos pull further and further away until he finally enlisted in the military and left town, too. At the end of his second tour, Carlos was badly injured by an IED blast, nearly losing his leg, but since returning he’s still been distant. Because of a letter Carlos wrote to Michael about Marley (unfortunately the reader is never let in on the details of its contents), Michael thinks the only thing that will revive Carlos is being reunited with the woman they both never stopped loving. This is what sends him to Marley’s doorstep, and he’s right about it being the only medicine Carlos really needed. I liked Michael, but he’s maybe a little too rough around the edges for my taste. Over the years, he’d watched Carlos connect with Marley on a more tender and intellectual level that he doesn’t share with her, so when he sees that the same connection between the other two still burns brightly, he’s ready to bow out of the threesome gracefully. I generally understood where he was coming from and thought it was an interesting move on his part, but I would have liked to have felt a little more of what he was feeling that drove him to that decision. Others may disagree with me, but I thought that Carlos was the more intriguing of the two male characters, probably because as a writer, he seemed to have a softer, more poetic and intellectual side. I wish the author had dug a little deeper with his characterization, because I feel like he had a lot of layers that were only cursorily explored, if at all. I understood that he’d been hurt by Marley leaving, but his giving up a Harvard scholarship to drive a cab and work menial jobs, later entering the Marines, seemed at odds with the rest of the man being portrayed, who had typically been the beta to Michael's alpha. All that suddenly changes, though, when he surprises both Michael and Marley by taking the reins in their relationship after they reconnect. I also thought that his seeming depression after returning injured was told much more so than shown and was magically overcome simply by seeing Marley again. So while I liked both men, I thought they were similarly underdeveloped as Marley. I think to some extent the underdevelopment of the characterizations played into the three characters’ relationship as a whole. We learn only enough to see that they had meant a lot to one another years ago and still do. I couldn’t help feeling that they have this rich backstory that’s barely explored. There’s a decent amount of steam fairly early in the story, but at first there isn’t much of an emotional connection given how close they’d all been before. It takes until the end of the story when they finally all come together to make love for this to right itself. Until then their interactions felt lusty but not particularly romantic or emotional. I also wasn’t fond of the author telling about certain events in hindsight, when, IMHO, they would have had a greater impact if shown in the moment. Otherwise, though, it was a good story. Despite my feeling it was lacking in some areas, it was still pretty enjoyable. I might be making some allowances for it being a novella, whereas if these types of issues had persisted in a full-length novel, I might not have been as forgiving. But there was just enough to keep me reading and generally satisfied with the outcome, so I couldn’t really justify marking it down any further. Marley In Chains was my first read by R. G. Alexander, but it has left me open to perhaps trying something else by her in the future. Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations, including a spicy M/F/M menage, a touch of M/M action, use of sex toys, creative use of a cane, one scene of bondage with chains, a little spanking, exhibitionism, and anal sex, which some readers may find offensive. Star Rating: 4 Merged review: Reviewed for THC Reviews *newest review for this anthology "4.5 stars" Overall Getting Scrooged by Eden Bradley - Getting Scrooged is a super-steamy Christmas novella about an over-worked corporate mogul with something to prove, who never takes time out for herself. She finally finds her match in the man who is sent to negotiate a corporate merger between one of her companies, a small publishing house, and the larger one that is his employer. Holly and Ben were decent characters, but I felt like they were a little too much alike. Both had crappy lives growing up and both have driven, type-A personalities, but each for their own reasons. Holly’s dad always wished she was a boy to whom he could pass on his company, so she never quite felt like she measured up to his standards. Even though he passed away, she still feels like she has to prove to herself that she can be the kind of businessperson her father could have been proud of. As such, she drives herself into the ground, never taking time out except to occasionally have anonymous, no-strings sex with strangers she meets in bars. She turns forty on Christmas Eve and feels like life has passed her by and perhaps she’s missing out on something by not having a relationship. Ben, on the other hand, seems to have a pretty good handle on having fun and is driven more by the thrill of the hunt, so to speak. However, much like Holly, he isn’t excited about the upcoming holiday season. I guess I prefer for the hero and heroine to be more different – not polar opposites, but different enough that I feel like they’re going to genuinely enrich each other’s lives – and I didn’t necessarily sense that with Holly and Ben. Also, their personalities were just a little too far removed from my own for me to be able to fully relate to them. Where the author seems to excel is in her love scenes that, overall, are smokin’ hot. Holly and Ben alone are steamy enough, but add in Ben’s two friends and sometimes lovers, Kit and Justin, and their love scenes could start a four-alarm fire.;-) The menage is only a temporary one, though, to fulfill one of the wishes on Holly’s bucket list, when I usually prefer them to be more permanent. However, I did enjoy that all three men are Brits, because it’s somewhat rare to find foreigners in American-set contemporary romances. As much as I enjoyed the hot sex scenes, though, I’m not usually one to allow my brain to turn to mush because of them. Even making allowances for the characterizations, which were admittedly pretty decent for a novella, there were still a few little things that kept it from being a five-star read for me. First, I thought the author could have done a better job with blocking during dialogue. Sometimes the conversation runs on for a while with little or no character actions in between lines. The love scenes, while hot, were just a tad too chatty for my taste as well. Lastly, the whole story takes place over about four weeks time, during which there are big jumps forward in the story and a nearly two-week span where Holly and Ben are apart, so having them fall in love and marry so quickly perhaps wasn’t quite as believable as it could have been. However, I’ll allow that a little Dickensian magic on the side made it a bit easier to swallow. So overall, despite a few minor issues, Getting Scrooged was still a pretty enjoyable read. It was my first story by Eden Bradley, but certainly good enough to make me curious what she can do with a longer story format. Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations, including spicy M/F and M/M interactions, as well as a M/F/M/M menage, use of sex toys and anal play, which some readers may find offensive. Star Rating: 4 Not So Tiny Tim by Robin L. Rotham – Before picking up the A Kinky Christmas Carol anthology, I hadn’t really heard of Robin L. Rotham, so I had no idea what to expect from her writing. I’m very pleased to say that I ended up loving Not So Tiny Tim. It was a hot, fun, quick read that was equal parts sweet and super sexy. The love scenes are so scorching, I thought my eReader might go up in flames.;-) But at the same time, they, and the story in general, expressed an emotional connection that’s not always easy to find in erotic romance. Not to mention, unlike the first novella in the series, the menage in this one is a permanent one, which was more to my liking. So, ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours I spent reading this novella. Tim, the subject of the title (I’ll leave it to the reader’s imagination as to why he’s called that ;-)), is the nephew of Holly, the heroine of the first novella in the series, Getting Scrooged. He’s a successful video game developer, who as part of the Knight clan, is familiar with the trappings of wealth. Howe ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Dec 07, 2016
not set
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Dec 14, 2017
not set
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Sep 24, 2024
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ebook
| ||||||||||||||
| 1911591444
| 9781911591443
| B07632RS9M
| 4.31
| 1,152
| Oct 09, 2017
| Oct 09, 2017
|
really liked it
|
Reviewed for THC Reviews "4.5 stars" Christmas at Conwenna Cove is the second book in Darcie Boleyn’s Conwenna Cove series that’s set in the charming s Reviewed for THC Reviews "4.5 stars" Christmas at Conwenna Cove is the second book in Darcie Boleyn’s Conwenna Cove series that’s set in the charming seaside town of the same name on the Cornwall coast of Great Britain. I first discovered this feel-good romantic fiction series earlier this year and was eager to continue. In this one, we have town veterinarian Oli who’s been widowed for two years and has two children paired with Grace, a newcomer to the Cove, who is helping her parents move into their new home. The two meet and although they don’t hit it off at first, it doesn’t take long for them to find a new beginning. From there, they fall into a sweet, fairly uncomplicated relationship that carries them through the Christmas season. They both simply have to figure out if they’re ready for something more serious after both suffering devastating losses in their pasts, and Grace must decide if she’s up for moving to Conwenna permanently. This book turned out to be a very pleasant diversion and the perfect compliment to the holiday season. Grace is a novelist whose parents visited Conwenna Cove years earlier and have decided to retire there. They’ve bought a cute – if a bit run-down – cottage in town that they look forward to fixing up and enjoying through their golden years. Grace comes with them to help them get settled and soon begins falling for the charm of this little village. As she’s getting acclimated to her new surroundings, she chances to meet Oli, who at first glance appears a bit rude when he doesn’t shake her hand and barely speaks to her. However, a few days later, as she’s working on her new novel at a local pub, a friendly little boy comes over and starts talking with her. Grace enjoys children but has sworn never to have any of her own after watching her brother suffer through Cystic Fibrosis, an awful illness to which he eventually succumbed. There’s just too much risk of her passing the disease on to her offspring. Little Tom manages to almost instantly worm his way into her heart, though, and then she finds out that Oli is Tom’s dad. This time, he’s sufficiently apologetic for his distracted behavior at their first meeting, and Grace finds that she’s very attracted to him. They keep seeing each other around town and gradually form a close friendship that blossoms into something more. But Grace must come to terms with the fear of loving someone she might lose and figure out if she’s prepared to make Conwenna her permanent home. As a writer myself, I could relate to Grace and I liked that she’s pretty laid-back and knows how to enjoy being in the moment. Except for her parents whom she adores, she’s emotionally closed herself off from others, on some level fearing potential loss, and she’s quite adamant about not having biological children. But with Oli and his kids things seem very natural. With him having experienced loss himself, they understand each other. She falls very quickly for all three of them and finds that she’s open to the idea of a ready-made family. Oli is the town veterinarian who is a bit of a crusader against animal cruelty and who’s generally well-liked by the townspeople. He lost his beloved wife to breast cancer two years earlier and hasn’t even looked at another woman since. When Grace shows up in town, her beauty takes his breath away. Between that and being distracted by thoughts of a mother cat and her kittens that were found abandoned earlier that morning, his first meeting with her is extremely awkward. However, he’s self-aware enough to realize his failure and offers a proper apology the next time he sees her. As they start spending more time together and even meet each other’s families, Oli feels a bit of guilt, wondering if enough time has passed since his wife’s death to entertain the idea of a relationship with someone else, but deep down, he knows that his wife would want him and the children to find happiness again. I adored Oli, who’s definitely a beta hero, for his slightly shy, socially awkward persona. He’s a wonderful dad who’s done an excellent job of raising his two children as a single father, even though it hasn’t always been easy. Although he still misses his wife, he doesn’t angst too long or hard over getting involved with Grace. It all happens quite naturally, making them feel like a great fit. Christmas at Conwenna Cove is a wonderful feel-good story that was a very enjoyable way to spend my reading time this holiday season. Much like the first book of the series, it’s a bit slow-paced, but somehow it didn’t feel excessively so. It just fit with the unhurried setting, the season, and the story that was being told. I really appreciated spending time with Grace and Oli who simply meld together as though they were always meant for one another. Oli’s kids, Amy and Tom, are wonderful secondary characters, as are Grace’s parents (I really wanted to try her dad’s cooking :-)) We also get a couple of quick sightings of Eve and Jack (Summer at Conwenna Cove), and a few visits with Nate who’ll become the hero of the next book, Forever at Conwenna Cove. I loved the animal characters, too. Hope, the abused greyhound whose life Oli saves, and the mama cat and her kittens are all so cute. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Conwenna Cove itself, a vibrantly described setting that I still wish I could visit if only it were real. The story is a heartwarming and emotional one that is primarily upbeat, but the scenes where Oli and Grace say goodbye to their loved ones brought a few tears. This is a sweet romance with no objectionable content to speak of aside from a couple of mild bad words. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to fans of Hallmark-esque stories that embody all the charm and spirit of the holiday season. Merged review: Reviewed for THC Reviews "4.5 stars" Christmas at Conwenna Cove is the second book in Darcie Boleyn’s Conwenna Cove series that’s set in the charming seaside town of the same name on the Cornwall coast of Great Britain. I first discovered this feel-good romantic fiction series earlier this year and was eager to continue. In this one, we have town veterinarian Oli who’s been widowed for two years and has two children paired with Grace, a newcomer to the Cove, who is helping her parents move into their new home. The two meet and although they don’t hit it off at first, it doesn’t take long for them to find a new beginning. From there, they fall into a sweet, fairly uncomplicated relationship that carries them through the Christmas season. They both simply have to figure out if they’re ready for something more serious after both suffering devastating losses in their pasts, and Grace must decide if she’s up for moving to Conwenna permanently. This book turned out to be a very pleasant diversion and the perfect compliment to the holiday season. Grace is a novelist whose parents visited Conwenna Cove years earlier and have decided to retire there. They’ve bought a cute – if a bit run-down – cottage in town that they look forward to fixing up and enjoying through their golden years. Grace comes with them to help them get settled and soon begins falling for the charm of this little village. As she’s getting acclimated to her new surroundings, she chances to meet Oli, who at first glance appears a bit rude when he doesn’t shake her hand and barely speaks to her. However, a few days later, as she’s working on her new novel at a local pub, a friendly little boy comes over and starts talking with her. Grace enjoys children but has sworn never to have any of her own after watching her brother suffer through Cystic Fibrosis, an awful illness to which he eventually succumbed. There’s just too much risk of her passing the disease on to her offspring. Little Tom manages to almost instantly worm his way into her heart, though, and then she finds out that Oli is Tom’s dad. This time, he’s sufficiently apologetic for his distracted behavior at their first meeting, and Grace finds that she’s very attracted to him. They keep seeing each other around town and gradually form a close friendship that blossoms into something more. But Grace must come to terms with the fear of loving someone she might lose and figure out if she’s prepared to make Conwenna her permanent home. As a writer myself, I could relate to Grace and I liked that she’s pretty laid-back and knows how to enjoy being in the moment. Except for her parents whom she adores, she’s emotionally closed herself off from others, on some level fearing potential loss, and she’s quite adamant about not having biological children. But with Oli and his kids things seem very natural. With him having experienced loss himself, they understand each other. She falls very quickly for all three of them and finds that she’s open to the idea of a ready-made family. Oli is the town veterinarian who is a bit of a crusader against animal cruelty and who’s generally well-liked by the townspeople. He lost his beloved wife to breast cancer two years earlier and hasn’t even looked at another woman since. When Grace shows up in town, her beauty takes his breath away. Between that and being distracted by thoughts of a mother cat and her kittens that were found abandoned earlier that morning, his first meeting with her is extremely awkward. However, he’s self-aware enough to realize his failure and offers a proper apology the next time he sees her. As they start spending more time together and even meet each other’s families, Oli feels a bit of guilt, wondering if enough time has passed since his wife’s death to entertain the idea of a relationship with someone else, but deep down, he knows that his wife would want him and the children to find happiness again. I adored Oli, who’s definitely a beta hero, for his slightly shy, socially awkward persona. He’s a wonderful dad who’s done an excellent job of raising his two children as a single father, even though it hasn’t always been easy. Although he still misses his wife, he doesn’t angst too long or hard over getting involved with Grace. It all happens quite naturally, making them feel like a great fit. Christmas at Conwenna Cove is a wonderful feel-good story that was a very enjoyable way to spend my reading time this holiday season. Much like the first book of the series, it’s a bit slow-paced, but somehow it didn’t feel excessively so. It just fit with the unhurried setting, the season, and the story that was being told. I really appreciated spending time with Grace and Oli who simply meld together as though they were always meant for one another. Oli’s kids, Amy and Tom, are wonderful secondary characters, as are Grace’s parents (I really wanted to try her dad’s cooking :-)) We also get a couple of quick sightings of Eve and Jack (Summer at Conwenna Cove), and a few visits with Nate who’ll become the hero of the next book, Forever at Conwenna Cove. I loved the animal characters, too. Hope, the abused greyhound whose life Oli saves, and the mama cat and her kittens are all so cute. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Conwenna Cove itself, a vibrantly described setting that I still wish I could visit if only it were real. The story is a heartwarming and emotional one that is primarily upbeat, but the scenes where Oli and Grace say goodbye to their loved ones brought a few tears. This is a sweet romance with no objectionable content to speak of aside from a couple of mild bad words. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to fans of Hallmark-esque stories that embody all the charm and spirit of the holiday season. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Dec 08, 2020
not set
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Dec 14, 2020
not set
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Sep 20, 2024
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1628305258
| 9781628305258
| B00OFAVKBY
| 3.71
| 185
| Nov 04, 2014
| Nov 05, 2014
|
really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews A Christmas Reunion is one of Donna Hatch’s Regency romance shorts. It’s only about 32 pages by my eReader’s count, so it does Reviewed for THC Reviews A Christmas Reunion is one of Donna Hatch’s Regency romance shorts. It’s only about 32 pages by my eReader’s count, so it doesn’t have a particularly involved plot. In it, we have a young lady who’s been jilted by her fiancé who wrote from a battlefield hospital on the continent that he’d married someone else. What she doesn’t know is that it was all a lie he concocted because of injuries he sustained in battle that makes him believe she’d be better off without him. A chance meeting between them at a posting inn as she’s traveling with her parents to a Christmas celebration at her aunt’s house finally reveals the truth and brings them back together. Emily was madly in love with Bennett, so she’s been heartbroken ever since receiving his letter three months earlier. She’s a sweet young woman, but one who’s also angry and grief-stricken, having a normal reaction to being thrown over. But I like that, when reunited with Bennett, she’s smart enough to intuit what’s really going on, and she’s very forgiving and loving as well. Bennett was perhaps a bit prideful to break things off like he did without giving Emily a chance to choose for herself, but there are many things that they used to enjoy together, which he can no longer do because of his injuries. However, I liked that, when confronted by Emily, he finally fesses up and is open to receiving her love again. Overall, A Christmas Reunion is a sweet, tender story about two people finding their way back to one another. There’s no particularly objectionable content, so it should be appropriate for romance readers of all ages and sensitivity levels. It’s too short to go very deep in either plot or characterizations, but it does manage to be pretty satisfying given it’s length. If you’re looking for a heartwarming read that takes an hour or less of your reading time during the busy holiday season, then this little novelette should fit the bill. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 06, 2018
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Dec 06, 2018
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Jul 25, 2024
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 0590379909
| 9780590379908
| B000J5OMFU
| 4.02
| 478
| Oct 01, 2000
| Jan 01, 1999
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it was amazing
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Reviewed for THC Reviews Santa Paws, Come Home is the third book in Nicholas Edwards’s Santa Paws series. In this one, our intrepid dog hero’s fame onl Reviewed for THC Reviews Santa Paws, Come Home is the third book in Nicholas Edwards’s Santa Paws series. In this one, our intrepid dog hero’s fame only grows when he tracks down a missing child shortly before Christmas. This puts him on the radar of an unscrupulous person who wants the intelligent canine for themselves and pays a couple of petty thieves to dognap him. After waking up in his abductors’ van, Santa Paws is frightened and disoriented. All he knows is that he must escape their clutches and get back home to his family. The only problem is that once he does finally give them the slip, he finds himself in New York City, a strange and scary place far from home. He decides to search for nice people who might help him, only to discover that while the people back home seem to love him, many of the people in this city are either scared of him or don’t like him. Relying on his instincts, he figures out which way to go, and along the way, he does receive assistance from some good people, while providing his special brand of help for others who need him. He also picks up a little friend to keep him company on his long journey. But will they be able to find their way home in time for the Callahans’ Christmas celebration? I adored the first two books in this series, and this third one was equally as good. It gives off The Incredible Journey vibes as Santa Paws is lost far from home and just trying to find the way back to his family. He manages to find a few kind people who are willing to help him on his journey, as well as a little animal companion. This canine hero also can’t help wanting to help anyone he finds who might be in need, so along the way, he provides assistance for many folks who are awed by his intelligence and grateful that he came along when he did. Of course, back at home, the Callahans are beside themselves with sadness and worry, frantically searching for Santa Paws and hoping against hope that either they’ll find their beloved pup or he’ll somehow return to them before Christmas. I’d say that the bulk of this book is written from Santa Paws’s perspective and I was once again impressed with how well the author manages to get inside a dog’s mind and come up with plausible thought trains for him. The dog is so smart and helpful, this series reminds me of the old Lassie films and TV show, which I loved growing up. I can’t imagine this story and the series as a whole not entertaining kids (or the young at heart) who enjoy animals stories. Overall, this was another fun and heartwarming read that I thoroughly enjoyed. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 22, 2023
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Dec 26, 2023
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Dec 22, 2023
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Paperback
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| B00HS3XLWG
| 4.11
| 7,810
| 1996
| 2005
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liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews "3.5 stars" Mrs. Miracle is the first book in Debbie Macomber’s Miracle series. Four years ago, Seth lost his wife in a car ac Reviewed for THC Reviews "3.5 stars" Mrs. Miracle is the first book in Debbie Macomber’s Miracle series. Four years ago, Seth lost his wife in a car accident and was left to raise rambunctious twin boys alone. Since his wife’s passing, the children have been living with his in-laws, but they recently moved back in with him. Judd and Jason are always getting into one scrape or another, leaving Seth about ready to pull out his hair trying to balance his work and home lives. To make matters worse, all the housekeepers he’s hired haven’t lasted more than a couple of weeks and the holidays are fast approaching. Then Emily Merkle, a kindly older woman shows up at the door, out of the blue, claiming she’s from the domestic employment agency. She fits right into their little home and the boys love her, dubbing her Mrs. Miracle. Then Seth meets Reba, a travel agent who unexpectedly takes over direction of the church Christmas pageant his boys are starring in. Reba experienced her fair share of pain, too, when she caught her ex-fiance and her sister cheating on her. She hasn’t spoken to her sister since. Seth and Reba find a kindred spirit in each other, but as Christmas draws closer and closer, they each begin to see that the other is having trouble moving on from their respective pasts. However, with a little heavenly help from Mrs. Miracle, they just might find a way to heal from their hurts and find the perfect partner in one another. Since losing his wife, Seth has felt adrift. He’s kind of going through the motions of life, but especially now that he’s raising his boys on his own, he’s having trouble keeping his head above water. He’d previously enjoyed playing the piano, but gave it up because it brought more pain than joy. Reba has understandably harbored a major grudge against her sister ever since finding the other woman in bed with her fiance, which ended the engagement. She refuses to be in the same house with her sister during the holidays, which has led to a lot of strife in her family. Then Seth and Reba meet and start dating. When they’re able to open up to one another about their respective pasts, they find understanding and comfort in the other. But eventually they start to see the flaws in each other’s logic and that they’re having trouble letting go of their grief over losing someone they loved, which leads to an eleventh hour breakup and a need for angelic intervention. If I’m being honest, I couldn’t help but feel that Seth and Reba got a little lost in what was ostensibly (according to the cover blurb), their own story. Each of them have backstories that were ripe for deeper exploration but that never really comes about. Instead, things stayed pretty much at surface level, with a lot of what passed for romance being told rather than shown. At first, Seth and Reba appeared perfect for the other because they seemed to understand each other… until they didn’t. A part of me realized that they each needed to make peace with the past in order to move into the future, but it all came about in such a magical last minute sort of way that left me feeling like they didn’t exactly get a solid HEA. So while I didn’t dislike either of them, I also didn’t feel like I got the deep POV and heart-stopping romance that I crave. Another reason that Seth and Reba got a bit lost is a result of other character perspectives being included as well. Seth’s in-laws, Jerry and Sharon, are having a marital crisis after forty years together, which only added to the overall sense of strife in the story. Jerry really rubbed me the wrong way, because he’s a classic male chauvinist (which I’ve noticed this author sometimes writes even in romantic hero type roles), who seems to think that his wife’s place is to cook, clean, and generally take care of everything for him while he gets to golf, play cards, and do other retirement related activities with his buddies. Jerry is also rather autocratic, making arbitrary decisions for both himself and Sharon and expecting her to just go along with it. But what really annoyed me is his initial refusal to spend the holidays with his grandkids for weak reasons. What kind of grandfather is he? My own husband absolutely dotes on our two grandchildren and will never pass up a single minute he can spend with them, so this didn’t make any sense to me. I couldn’t help feeling like Sharon was right to finally be fed up after putting up with him for so long. But then she behaved in what I felt was a rather immature way, jumping to the conclusion that her husband and best friend were having an affair after merely seeing them together at a restaurant, and then she runs away without saying a word to them. After cooling off, she realizes it was silly of her to think such a thing, but the problem I had was that she refused to communicate (both of them did really). Their reconciliation was equally lacking in depth as Seth and Reba’s, maybe more so. It was cute, but I wasn’t left with any true sense that things would really change between them. Then there was a third supporting character perspective for Harriet, a lady at Seth and Reba’s church who seemed to think it was her God-given mission to judge and call out others for their “sin,” all under the guise of being a “good Christian.” Sure she gets taken down a peg by the end, but I didn’t really feel like her POV was necessary or added anything to the story except a sense of frustration for me. IMHO, all three of these characters needed to act their age (60+ years), instead of like immature teenagers. I went into reading Mrs. Miracle thinking it would be a charming Mary Poppins type story about a nanny/housekeeper who helps a young widower get past his grief and find love again, while turning his spirited children around. Unfortunately this part of the story only took up maybe a third of the book, which was far too little to my way of thinking. If the other character POVs had been left out, Seth and Reba’s characterizations and relationship could have been built out much more fully. Not to mention, the title character herself was little more than a background player. Mrs. Miracle just kind of hovers on the periphery instead of being a primary cast member. In Debbie Macomber’s other Angel books, the angels are front and center and the reader gets to see just how they’re helping people, however misguided their attempts might have been. But here Mrs. Miracle is occasionally seen, but rarely heard. We only get her perspective a couple of time for maybe a page or two, which was disappointing. I didn’t necessarily want Mrs. Miracle to be the comic relief like the author’s other angels are, but I think Ms. Macomber could have maintained Mrs. Miracle’s more serious demeanor while still giving her more to do. As far as Jerry, Sharon, and Harriet, I could have done without their POVs entirely. I didn’t really feel like they added anything meaningful to the story. If anything, they only added more arguing and conflict, which just made me tense, when I was expecting a heartwarming holiday read. I guess it was meant to show how the magic and love surrounding Christmas can change people, but I still think the one storyline would have sufficed and would have been much better if the author had dug into it much deeper. The ending was nice, with the requisite HEAs all around. Overall, though, Mrs. Miracle ended up being somewhat disappointing for me and I can really only characterize it as an okay read. I’m sure I’ll probably read the next one of the series, though, because I know this author can do better. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 16, 2023
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Dec 21, 2023
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Dec 16, 2023
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Paperback
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| 9781609682385
| unknown
| 3.29
| 34
| Jan 01, 2007
| 2007
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews All She Wants for Christmas is a short, stand-alone, erotic romance novelette. Hayley has been fantasizing about her husband, Reviewed for THC Reviews All She Wants for Christmas is a short, stand-alone, erotic romance novelette. Hayley has been fantasizing about her husband, Conner, spanking her for some time, but she’s shy and can’t figure out how to broach the subject with him. She thought that she was the only one who had these kinds of desires, until she lets the cat out of the bag in the company of her friends and discovers that all of them have been spanked before and like it. As her friends relate the stories of their first spankings, Hayley becomes more excited about the prospect until Conner finally gives her the best Christmas present ever by fulfilling her sexy longings. I have to admit that I finished All She Wants for Christmas with very mixed feelings. The first half of the story, where Hayley’s first three friends relate their spanking stories made me uncomfortable because of the dubious consent in each of them. At least Genevieve’s was with her boyfriend and there was a certain level of trust in their relationship, but it still bothered me that he never discussed it with her to make sure she was on board before putting her over his knee. Lyndsay’s story really set my teeth on edge, because it was a boss/employee situation. I don’t care that he didn’t pursue anything sexually with her at the time or that he eventually became her husband. There was a clear power differential and no relationship between them that would’ve indicated the proper level of trust for this type of interaction. IMHO this was nothing short of sexual assault. Monica’s story made me almost equally perturbed because Lyndsay orchestrated the whole thing behind Monica’s back and then Monica’s husband took her over his knee with Lyndsay and her husband both present. Again there was no discussion of whether Monica would be okay with any of it, and if a friend did that to me, they wouldn’t be my friend anymore. Of course, all three of these ladies ate it up, loving every minute of their spankings once they got over the initial shock, but for me all three scenarios reeked of old-school forced seduction, which isn’t my thing. Now that’s not to say the entire story was bad, because I did very much like the latter half of it. The fourth friend, Jill, was not unlike Hayley in that she wanted her husband to spank her, but wasn’t sure if he’d want to, so she made a bet with him. She of course lost, but technically got what she wanted anyway. Then because one of Hayley’s friends puts a bug in Conner’s ear, he finally fulfills Hayley’s Christmas wish by giving her a sexy spanking followed by some smokin’ hot lovin’. Because both Jill and Hayley knew what they wanted and weren’t blindsided by their partners, I thoroughly enjoyed their parts of the story. The only other thing that bugged me a little is that there were quite a lot of typos for such a short story, which could be distracting. I considered giving this novelette a lower rating due to my misgivings, but because it ended on a high note for me, I didn’t. If not for the dub-con in the other ladies’ stories, it definitely would have been a keeper for me, so I figured knocking off one star for that was sufficient. All She Wants for Christmas was my first read by Paige Tyler. Other than the typos it was well-written. The story itself had its good points and bad points, but overall it was enjoyable enough to make me open to trying something else from this author. I just hope that her other books have more enthusiastic consent in them. Unfortunately it appears that this novelette is no longer available for purchase at this time. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 15, 2023
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Dec 15, 2023
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Dec 15, 2023
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ebook
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| 0375866590
| 9780375866593
| 0375866590
| 3.75
| 98,138
| Oct 26, 2010
| Oct 26, 2010
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is a contemporary, young adult novel that is the first in Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Dash & Reviewed for THC Reviews Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is a contemporary, young adult novel that is the first in Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Dash & Lily series. One day over the holidays, while perusing the stacks at The Strand, his favorite book store, Dash happens across a red, Moleskine notebook tucked between the other volumes. Curious, he opens it and finds that the person who placed it there is challenging him to a little scavenger hunt. Since he’s bored, he decides to play along. Over the next several days, he and the owner of the journal, who he discovers is named Lily, continue to give each other increasingly difficult dares to complete. As the two of them correspond through the notebook, they also begin to learn about each other and start to wonder if they might have found the perfect romantic match in one another. But when Dash finally meets Lily in person, it isn’t quite what he’d thought it would be, which leads both of them to worry that they might have created an idealized picture of each other in their minds that can’t be replicated in the real world. Dash’s parents went through a bitter divorce when he was young and he has a strained relationship with both of them. Not a fan of Christmas and not really wanting to spend the holiday with either of them, he concocts a scheme to get both parental figures out of town so that he can enjoy his Christmas vacation alone. A bibliophile, Dash’s favorite store is The Strand, and one day while wandering the aisles, he comes upon the red notebook and decides to spice up his rather boring existence by doing what the owner asks. It turns out to be fun and knowing his new friend is likely a teenage girl also piques his interest. Dash had been dating a girl who moved to Spain months ago, which led to them breaking up. He knows that she wasn’t the right person for him, but his feelings about her and relationships in general are a little jumbled. As Dash continues to complete Lily’s dares and learn more about her, he starts to wonder if she could be the person he’s been searching for, someone who will complement him in a way his ex didn’t. But when he finally finds Lily and meets her in person, it’s not the magical moment he’d hoped for, leaving him a bit bummed. However, fate and their friends and family help facilitate a do-over that could lead to something great. I liked Dash for his bookish nature and his introspective personality. I also appreciated the way he behaved like a gentleman with Lily, protecting her in a moment of vulnerability, and how he’d paid attention and knew Lily well enough to come up with the perfect date for her to cap off the story. Lily’s parents are also out of town for the holidays, celebrating their anniversary, but unlike Dash, she’s not particularly happy about it. She loves Christmas on a grand scale and misses having them around and taking part in their family traditions. Instead, she’s stuck with her older, college-aged brother, Langston, who kind of lets her do her own thing. Generally that’s okay, though, because Lily is a good girl who doesn’t usually get into trouble. She’s also responsible enough to have her own dog-walking business, which she started because her parents wouldn’t allow her to have the pets she adores. Lily is kind of a misanthrope who doesn’t have many friends, much less a boyfriend, and she longs to finally get her first kiss. Langston and his boyfriend, Benny, helped Lily come up with the red notebook idea, but she didn’t expect it to take off like it does. The person who begins corresponding with her is very intriguing, which makes her excited each time he gives her a new dare. The dares also help her to move out of her comfort zone and be more adventurous. As she learns more about Dash, she starts to eagerly anticipate meeting him in person, but when it finally happens, she’s taken her adventurousness a little too far and he finds her in an out-of-character situation that makes her look bad. Lily fears that their relationship could be over or that they might forever be relegated to the friend zone until fate and her family step in. I could relate to Lily. She’s sweet and innocent but full of life and vitality. She’s very much the yin to Dash’s yang. I think she understands him well and likewise gives him the surprise of his life on their first real date. Since this is a young adult story, this is where I’ll evaluate it for potentially objectionable content. I didn’t find a lot that was concerning, but there are a few things with which some readers might take issue. As far as language, there are a smattering of profanities, including a few f-bombs. Lily lies to her grandfather about where she was after getting caught breaking curfew. She also lies a second time about meeting a boy while out with some other acquaintances. Lily accidentally gets drunk after sampling several of said acquaintances’ alcoholic drinks. Langston’s boyfriend sleeps over, and Dash has two gay friends in a relationship who sleep over in the same bed. A boy and a girl share a bed platonically for comfort. A boy and a girl share a pretty chaste kiss. A few times Lily mentions tingles in her body when thinking of boys. There is some mild sexual innuendo peppered throughout, but no graphic sexual content of any kind. Overall I would say that this book is generally appropriate for the teen audience at which its aimed. Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is composed in dual first-person narration, with Mr. Levithan writing Dash’s perspective and Ms. Cohn writing Lily’s. Both GoodReads and Amazon have Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares categorized as romance, so I went into reading it expecting it to be a bit more romantic than it actually turned out to be. I suppose in the strictest sense of the genre, it could be classified as such, given that Dash and Lily start falling for each other as they play their game and get to know each other in epistolary format, and they also have what I’d call an HFN ending. However, they aren’t physically together for the overwhelming majority of the story. I also felt like they both tended to overthink falling in love, rather than just letting it happen. Since Dash and Lily don’t spend a lot of time in each other’s presence, there are lots of other characters, mainly Lily’s large extended family and Dash’s friends, with whom they play off of throughout. All of these characters are fun and colorful, but I thought it made the story almost equally about their relationships with their friends and family members as it was about their budding relationship with each other. I adore a good scavenger hunt, so when the story began, I was immediately sucked into it, as Dash and Lily challenge each other, but their interactions via the journal seemed to quickly move away from puzzles and searching for clues and into more philosophical territory. I begrudgingly admit that it helped them get to know one another, but I thought it slowed the pace of the story and added to the sense that they were overthinking things. While I may not have ended up loving the book, I still thought it was cute, and overall, I enjoyed it. I look forward to checking out the Netflix series based on it, as well as reading the further adventures of Dash and Lily in the remaining books. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 09, 2023
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Dec 14, 2023
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Dec 09, 2023
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Hardcover
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| 141993161X
| 9781419931611
| 141993161X
| 3.84
| 89
| Nov 30, 2010
| Nov 30, 2010
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liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews "3.5 stars" All He Wants is a short, stand-alone, erotic romance novelette. Keith is Telly’s older brother’s best friend, so t Reviewed for THC Reviews "3.5 stars" All He Wants is a short, stand-alone, erotic romance novelette. Keith is Telly’s older brother’s best friend, so they’ve known each other for years. Although they’ve kind of had a thing for each other, Keith kept his distance because of their age difference and them always seeming to be in different stages of life. During his most recent military deployment overseas, Keith and Telly kept in touch, and when Telly became pregnant by a guy she no longer wants in her life, Keith offered to let her stay at his house rent-free in exchange for house-sitting. He also discovered a fetish for a pregnant woman’s body when pictures of Telly with her growing belly started really turning him on. Now returning home at Christmastime, he’s eager to claim both Telly and the baby as his own. But Telly has an independent streak a mile wide, and while her pregnancy-charged libido makes her eager for sex, she doesn’t seem as anxious for a long-term commitment. Keith will have his work cut out for him convincing her otherwise. I came very close to giving All He Wants four stars. There were definitely things about it that I enjoyed. Keith was a sweetheart who really wanted to look out for Telly and the baby, even though she didn’t seem to appreciate him wanting to take care of her, and he was patient and forward-thinking enough to respect her need for independence. Also, not every guy would be able to accept another man’s child, but he was eager for fatherhood and family, which was very appealing to me. The steamy scenes were well-done, too, with several packed into this short novelette, showcasing variety and creativity. However, as much as I enjoyed those aspects of the story, when I really started to think about it, there were also several weaknesses. Telly could be very confusing to me. Deep down it seems like she wants Keith, but she fights an actual relationship with him almost tooth-and-nail and doesn’t really believe anything he tells her. For example, he says she’s beautiful and that he wants her, but she thinks he’s just horny from a long deployment with no women around. Or he tells her to stay with him, then she’s immediately looking for other living arrangements. Keith was basically a dream lover and boyfriend, but I felt like Telly kept pushing him away, which was frustrating to me. Also, there’s a bombshell revelation regarding her ex that’s dropped in the last chapter that I didn’t feel was given anywhere near the weight it deserved. Then the ending was rather abrupt, leaving me not entirely satisfied or convinced that Keith and Telly were on the same page and fully ready to commit. In fact, Keith declares his love, but Telly doesn’t, at least not directly, which was a little disappointing. My frustrations aside, though, the things I liked about this little novelette weighed heavily in its favor, so I did mostly enjoy reading it. Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations, which could be objectionable to sensitive readers. However, aside from the pregnancy fetish, there isn’t anything particularly kinky or out there. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 07, 2023
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Dec 08, 2023
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Dec 07, 2023
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ebook
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| 0778388344
| 9780778388340
| 0778388344
| 4.23
| 12,604
| Oct 13, 2020
| Oct 13, 2020
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews I’m sure most Robyn Carr fans, myself included, thought that her Virgin River series ended in 2012 with the eighteenth full-le Reviewed for THC Reviews I’m sure most Robyn Carr fans, myself included, thought that her Virgin River series ended in 2012 with the eighteenth full-length novel, My Kind of Christmas, but a couple of years ago, not long after the debut of the Virgin River television series, we got the pleasant surprise of the release of Return to Virgin River. Once again, we’re transported back to this little town in the heart of California’s Redwood country. Kaylee has been mired in grief ever since losing her mother over the holidays less than a year earlier. She’s an author on a deadline who has been finding it all but impossible to write her next book in the home that she shared with her mother. Some friends offer up their cabin near Virgin River as a writing retreat, but she arrives to discover the house has caught fire and is now unlivable. While checking around the area for a new place to stay, she runs into Landry who just happens to have an extra guest house on his property that isn’t being used. Kaylee gratefully takes up residence there and finally things start moving on her book. Over the next few months, she and Landry also start getting to know one another and gradually begin falling in love. However, Landry has a complicated relationship with the wife he’s been separated from for the past ten years, and who now doesn’t want to let him go. Not to mention, as much as Kaylee has enjoyed Virgin River for a few months, she doesn’t want to give up her mother’s home to live there permanently. The two of them will have some bumps in the road to navigate in order to make their relationship work for the long haul, but when Kaylee’s heart begins to open up to the joy and magic of the holiday season, she just might find all the answers she needs. Kaylee’s mom and dad divorced when she was little, and her dad was never much a part of her life growing up. Her mom was her best friend, though, so ever since the other woman passed away the previous Christmas, Kaylee has felt adrift. She’s a modestly successful author who has a deadline for her next book, but she can’t seem to concentrate to write. Then some friends offer her their cabin for a writing retreat. Kaylee had spend a little time there when she was younger and remembers loving it, so she jumps at the chance. But she arrives to fire crews putting out a blaze that destroyed a large part of the house, leaving her with nowhere to go, since she’s rented out her own home in Southern California for the next several months. Jack and Mel offer her temporary accommodations in their tiny guest house, while Kaylee searches for something more comfortable and long-term. Then she meets Landry who has just the right place for her. The only possible downside is that Landry both owns and trains dogs and ever since being bitten as a child, Kaylee has had an irrational fear of the animals. She finds a tiny stray kitten she decides to keep and figures she can just avoid the dogs, but Landry is determined to help her overcome her fear. The two start spending a lot of time together, first as friends, but their relationship slowly grows into something more. As the holidays approach, Kaylee doesn’t really want to celebrate, but all of her friends, both old and new, won’t allow her to simply grieve alone. The magic of Virgin River at the holidays works on Kaylee until she finally finds all that she needs to move on, while giving back to the community and beyond. Kaylee is a nice young woman who’s weathering through a difficult time in her life. As an author, I could relate to her writing woes, and I like how she got the creative juices flowing again by writing something a little different than what she normally does. I also like how she opens her heart to stray animals and how she fits right in with the rest of the residents of Virgin River. Landry has lived in Virgin River most of his life. He grew up there in the house that he now lives in. His life was somewhat the reverse of Kaylee’s in that his mom was never around, so he was raised by his dad who somewhat recently passed away. In fact, one of the ways in which he and Kaylee initially connect is in their shared grief over the loss of a beloved parent. Landry is an artist who works with mostly clay and glass, but he uses his love of animals to supplement his income by also being a part-time dog trainer. When Kaylee first comes to live in his guest house, she’s afraid of both his dog, Otis, and the other dogs who are temporarily residing in his kennel. He sets about helping her overcome her fear, so that when she finds an abandoned mama dog and her puppies on one of her daily walks, she doesn’t hesitate to jump into action to rescue them. As Landry and Kaylee draw closer, the one wrinkle in his life that could derail a romantic relationship is that he’s still technically married to a woman he’s only rarely seen in the past ten years. In his mind, she’s basically his ex-wife, but he never bothered to legally dissolve their union because he had no other woman in his life to give him a compelling reason to. Now with things getting more serious with Kaylee, he knows he wants to finally get a divorce, but just as he’s ready to put an end to the marriage, his wife shows up again, begging for a second chance and won’t let him go so easily. Landry is a really nice, stand-up guy who has remained friends with his ex and always treated her kindly even though she essentially abandoned him and their marriage to pursue her acting career. He’s even nicer to Kaylee, being a great friend and always lending a shoulder to cry on. He’s great with animals and a valuable member of the community, just the kind of guy you’d expect to find in Virgin River. Overall, Return to Virgin River was another respectable entry into the Virgin River series that fit the mold well. It maybe wasn’t quite as good as some of the earlier books in the series, but it was a nice, heartwarming, and generally feel-good story that I enjoyed. It had parts that were perhaps a little more morose than we usually find in the series, because of how Kaylee is pretty caught up in her grief and slowly working through it. I couldn’t help wondering if Robyn Carr was going through something similar in her own life and writing this book was a form of therapy. I have no idea if that was the case, but it certainly seems plausible. I liked both Kaylee and Landry as characters and although I thought that their relationship went from friends to something more without enough transition in between, I also liked them as a couple and thought they fit together well. Of course, I loved getting reacquainted with the residents of Virgin River again, and Ms. Carr even managed to pull in a few characters like Colin and Jillian who hadn’t been seen in a while. I thought the cover blurb was maybe just a tad misleading, though, as it made me think this was yet another Christmas story. However, it is and it isn’t. Kaylee actually arrives in Virgin River in August and stays through the holidays, so we actually get to see the town through the rapidly changing seasons from late summer, into autumn, and on to early winter as they celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I liked how the magic of Christmas played a role, but that part of the story only encompasses approximately the final fifty pages or so of the book. I did, once again, take issue with some of Ms. Carr’s writing quirks such as her lack of blocking and her penchant for having her characters converse in block paragraphs. Because a lot of the backstory is told in dialogue, there isn’t much in the way of the deep introspection that I prefer either. I also picked up on quite a bit of repetition and a few inconsistencies that the editor should have caught. All in all, however, Return to Virgin River was pretty much what I expect from this series. I don’t know if Ms. Carr will ever revisit Virgin River again, but as this book proves, you can never say never. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 19, 2022
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Dec 24, 2022
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Dec 19, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 0590944711
| 9780590944717
| 0590944711
| 3.98
| 434
| 1996
| Oct 01, 1997
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it was amazing
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Reviewed for THC Reviews The Return of Santa Paws is the second book in Nicholas Edwards’s Santa Paws series. In this one, Santa Paws (aka Nick) has se Reviewed for THC Reviews The Return of Santa Paws is the second book in Nicholas Edwards’s Santa Paws series. In this one, Santa Paws (aka Nick) has settled in with the Callahan family and loves being their dog. He’s particularly attached to the children, Gregory, and his older sister, Patricia. It’s Christmastime once again, and the family is planning to spend the holiday at their grandparents’ cabin in Vermont. Their parents are driving, but their Uncle Steve, who is a pilot, is flying so that he can come back quickly in a couple of days for work. Gregory and Patricia have flown with Steve several times before and love it, so they decide to take Santa Paws and go with him. However, before they reach their destination, a mechanical failure causes the plane’s engine to stall and Steve must crash-land it in the middle of a snowy forest. It comes to rest against a tree at the edge of a ravine, and Steve is knocked unconscious. Thanks to the kids’ quick thinking and Santa Paws’ help, they barely get everyone out in time before the plane plunges off a cliff. With Steve and Patricia injured, Gregory must build a shelter and find wood to start a fire. But when a snowstorm blows in and Steve realizes that planes won’t be able to fly in the bad weather to search for them, he reluctantly sends the kids in search of help. With the heroic Santa Paws forging a path through the deep snow and his trusty nose on the hunt for cars, they all brave the wintry condition and many obstacles, hoping for a Christmas miracle. I read Santa Paws, the first book, years ago with my kids when they were young, but we never got around to continuing the series. Last year, I decided to reread it and then keep the series on my reading list each year at Christmastime until I finish it. I’m so glad I did, because The Return of Santa Paws was equally as good as the first one. It’s told in third-person POV alternating between Gregory, Patricia, and Santa Paws. As with the first book, I was impressed with the author’s ability to get inside the dog’s mind and figure out what he might be thinking. Of course, he humorously doesn’t understand exactly what’s going on, but he’s always eager to make his humans happy and help and protect them in any way he can. The story is full of action and adventure as Santa Paws, along with Gregory and Patricia, brave the ravages of winter in search of help after the small plane they were traveling on crashes in the wilderness. It’s part survival story, part heartwarming, holiday, family drama, and not to worry, there is a happy ending to the suspenseful narrative that kept me on the edge of my seat. I can’t imagine that this book wouldn’t entertain kids, especially those who enjoy animal stories or suspenseful, survival stories. Highly recommended for middle grade readers or the young at heart who would like this type of book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 14, 2022
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Dec 16, 2022
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Dec 14, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1938927028
| 9781938927027
| B009ZL7D28
| 3.57
| 99
| Oct 30, 2012
| Nov 01, 2012
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liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews O Christmas Three is, as the title suggests, a holiday-themed, erotic romance novella about a threesome. It apparently used to Reviewed for THC Reviews O Christmas Three is, as the title suggests, a holiday-themed, erotic romance novella about a threesome. It apparently used to be considered a prequel to Suzan Butler’s Texas Highlanders Ice Hockey series. However, it no longer seems to be available for purchase anywhere and isn’t even mentioned on the author’s website. Leo, one of the two heroes, is a player for the ice hockey team. He and the other hero, Garrett, have been best friends forever and used to be lovers, as well, until Leo, worried about what people would think if they found out a public figure like him was bisexual and in a same-sex relationship, got cold feet. Leo and Garrett have remained friends but cooled their romantic relationship. Then Garrett met and fell in love with Brianna, to whom he’s been married for the past ten years. Recently Garrett confessed to Bri that he and Leo used to engage in threesomes, which piqued her interest. The couple are scheduled to spend the Christmas holiday at Leo’s remote mountain cabin, so they’ve formed a plan to seduce him into a little menage action. At first Leo is a bit resistant to the idea, but eventually he can’t say no to his two best friends. But when Bri decides she’d like them all to become a permanent threesome, she and Garrett will have their work cut out for them convincing Leo that they’re all prefect together. To be honest, the characterizations in this novella are pretty weak and I didn’t come away from reading it with a great sense of who Garrett, Brianna, and Leo are as individuals or what really drives their decision-making. Garrett apparently repairs computers for a living, but it barely gets a mention. I got no real sense of who Brianna is at all beyond the fact that she apparently carries a suitcase full of moisturizers and beauty products with her when she travels, which made her seem a little shallow. Out of the three Leo might be the best developed. He loved Garrett once upon a time, but as an ice hockey player and public figure, he was worried that the media would have a field day if they discovered his bisexuality, which could also lead to backlash from fans and the team’s owners. When Garrett and Brianna start trying to seduce him into a menage, he’s a little resistant at first, concerned that he would simply be a third wheel in their well-established relationship. However, while Leo does angst for a while, his objections are ultimately overcome fairly easily, and quite frankly, I felt like his concerns about the nature of their threesome becoming public were largely swept under the rug. I just really wanted to know more about these three characters. There isn’t even any information on how Garrett and Leo met and became lovers or how they got started engaging in menages. All three of them are supposedly already in love with one another, and while I can see how Garrett and Leo might still be holding a torch for each other given their shared past, I have no idea when Bri fell for Leo. For his part, Leo is simply said to have fallen for her pretty much from the moment he met her, which isn’t very satisfying. I just didn’t end up feeling very connected to the characters, because there isn’t much there for me to relate to. In addition to the lacking characterizations, the plot was pretty thin, too. Without really getting any background information on the characters, we dive right in to see Garrett and Bri on their way to Leo’s cabin, having already agreed to try to draw him into a threesome. However, their communication is terrible. At one point, Garrett says that he and Bri were honest with each other about their respective sexual histories early on, but that isn’t really true. Garrett never told Bri about his sexual relationship with Leo and only recently revealed that the two of them engaged in menages before he met her. Apparently from the moment Garrett told her, Bri has had a fantasy of having their threesome (that hasn’t even materialized yet) become permanent, but she never told Garrett. Neither of them really let Leo in on their plan, and instead immediately start trying to seduce him. There were times when I felt like they were trying to railroad Leo into the three-way relationship rather than genuinely taking the time to listen to him and try to understand his concerns. It was almost like they were telling him that they all belonged together and he just needed to get with the program. Despite my concerns, I’ve read more frustrating stories. The love scenes were decent, although not phenomenal. There could have been a better emotional connection. There also were sometimes inconsistent details, such as one of the guys removing a condom that was never put on, and there was also sometimes a lack of details that made it difficult to envision the scene. There was also a brief moment where Leo gives Garrett oral right after Garrett had… ahem… been inside him without any washing taking place, which grossed me out. There were also a lot of little things with regards to the editing such as typos and incorrect or missing words that could be a bit distracting. Then there was the conflict, which mostly consisted of Leo’s internal disharmony, which became a little repetitive. There was no forward motion in his thought processes, and as I mentioned before Garrett and Bri simply kept pushing him to give in, with Leo’s concerns being easily overcome. Even though I’ve had a lot of criticisms, O Christmas Three wasn’t a bad read, but I think it would have been much better if it had been lengthened and the characters and story fleshed out a lot more. As is, it’s mostly just a series of steamy love scenes loosely held together by Leo’s angst. I liked the characters for as well as I got to know them, and I genuinely would have liked to know them better. Without that, the ending felt more HFN than HEA because there was no solid resolution to Leo’s issues. So ultimately this was just an OK read for me. The jury is still out on whether I’ll give the other books in the series a try. Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual content, including anal sex, within M/F, M/M, M/F/M and M/M/F combinations, that could be objectionable to sensitive readers. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 12, 2022
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Dec 14, 2022
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Dec 12, 2022
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ebook
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| 0345528883
| 9780345528889
| 0345528883
| 3.85
| 7,831
| Oct 23, 2012
| Oct 22, 2013
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews Angels at the Table is a short novel that is the seventh and final story in Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere series that fo Reviewed for THC Reviews Angels at the Table is a short novel that is the seventh and final story in Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere series that follows a group of three mischievous angels named Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy. As Prayer Ambassadors, they’re supposed to answer people’s prayers particularly at the holidays, but they can never seem to resist interfering in human affairs, which can get them into trouble with their boss, the archangel Gabriel. This time, they’re joined by a new apprentice angel named Will, who they’re training and who succumbs to their special brand of holiday hijinks. It’s New Year’s Eve, and the angels take Will to Earth to see the humans celebrating in Times Square, where with a nudge of his wings, he causes two strangers, Aren and Lucie, to bump into one another. It’s the stroke of midnight, when everyone around them is kissing, so Aren impulsively kisses Lucie, who enjoys it. Afterward, they spend nearly the entire night at a diner talking. Their connection is strong, but with the responsibility of opening a new restaurant in the next few months, Lucie feels the timing isn’t right. Aren suggests that she take some time to think things over, and if Lucie chooses to pursue a relationship, he’ll be waiting for her at the top of the Empire State Building one week later. Over the following week, Lucie can’t get Aren off her mind, so she decides to meet him, but a last minute emergency involving her mom prevents her from going. They both think it wasn’t meant to be, but nearly one year later, Aren, who works as a food critic for a New York newspaper, is assigned to review Lucie’s new restaurant. He has no idea that she’s the owner, but the food is so terrible (thanks to the meddling angels) that he has no choice but to pan it. Thankfully Lucie’s loyal customers come to her rescue, commenting online about how wrong Aren was, which leads his boss to insist that he give it another go. On his second visit, Aren finally meets Lucie again, and this time, the food is fabulous, making him print a retraction, but Lucie is still holding a grudge against the anonymous reviewer. Just as she and Aren are starting to reconnect, she discovers his secret identity, which could ruin their newfound relationship. Lucie made a lot of sacrifices to attend culinary school and she’s proud of her work as a chef. She and her mom have plans to invest her mom’s life savings into opening their own restaurant, Heavenly Delights, which is Lucie’s dream. They’ve secured the storefront for it, just as she meets Aren for the first time, and she knows that the next few months are going to entail a lot of hard work that won’t really leave time for romance. That’s why, although she feels very connected to Aren after their New Year’s Eve meeting, she’s reluctant to keep things going. However, after not being able to get Aren out of her mind for the next week, she decides to meet him as planned until her mother’s accident prevents her from going. Although she’s thought of Aren often over the past year and frequently peruses the newspaper for his byline, she’s never been able to find him and thinks it wasn’t meant to be. Then one day, about a year later, she reads the scathing review the newspaper’s food critic, Eaton Well, wrote about her restaurant. Lucie is livid about it and fears that she and her mom may lose the business because of it, until her loyal customers come to her rescue. A couple of weeks later, Aren shows up at Heavenly Delights, leaving Lucie stunned. With a little nudge from their family members, they reconnect and things are going very well between them. Although Eaton Well publishes a new glowing review, Lucie just can’t forget how awful the first one was. She has no idea that Aren and Eaton are one and the same and when she finds out, it may spell disaster for their relationship. Lucie is a talented chef, a hard worker, and very determined to make Heavenly Delights a success. She has a strong relationship with her mother and wants a family. Aren is everything she’s dreamed of in a man, but she’ll have to learn forgiveness in order to make things work between them. Aren has only just moved to New York when he and Lucie meet for the first time on New Year’s Eve. He’s recently divorced and although he wants a wife and kids, he’s not really actively looking for a woman after getting his heart broken. However, the conversation with Lucie flows so easily, he just has to see her again, which is why he suggests that she take some time to think things over before nixing the possibility of them pursuing a relationship. When she doesn’t show up, he’s a little heartbroken, but decides it wasn’t meant to be. Aren writes his reviews under the pseudonym, Eaton Well, and his contract with the newspaper forbids him from revealing his identity to anyone other than immediate family. He’s assigned to review Heavenly Delights but thanks to the mischievous angels interference, he finds the food completely unpalatable and pans the restaurant. After the backlash from customers, his editor sends him back for another try, and this time, he discovers that Lucie is the co-owner and chef. Also, the food is delicious, so he prints a retraction to his original review. He and Lucie hit it off again and things are going well. He knows that he can’t keep his secret identity from her forever, but he also can’t reveal himself without breaking his contract. When Lucie finds out, she isn’t so understanding. Aren is a really nice guy who was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Although he wrote a scathing review the first time around, he didn’t really have much choice after all the crazy things the angels did to try to “spice up” Lucie’s already superb cooking. Then he simply couldn’t tell her who he was without legal ramifications. I think he did the best he could. He was also open-minded the second time around and was very apologetic that everything happened the way it did. Angels at the Table was a classic Debbie Macomber holiday rom-com. Will was a nice addition to the original trio of angels. He’s every bit as impish as the other three but very concerned when things go awry. All the angels are perhaps a bit childish at times, but their hearts are always in the right place. However, their antics always seem to get them into trouble, not only with Gabriel, but they also cause trouble for their charges as well. Will’s misstep in Times Square leads to Aren and Lucie meeting sooner than they were supposed to, and all four of them very nearly ruin the couple’s second chance by quite literally over-seasoning the sauce. But all’s well that ends well. Lucie learns an important lesson in forgiveness and Aren learns to be a little kinder in his reviewing process. They fit well together as a couple and I enjoyed the little report from Gabriel about what the future holds for them that serves as something of an epilogue. Overall, Angels at the Table was a nice wrap-up to the Angels Everywhere series. ...more |
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Dec 08, 2022
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Dec 11, 2022
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Dec 08, 2022
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Paperback
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| B07JFP48LN
| 4.43
| 14
| Oct 13, 2018
| Oct 13, 2018
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews One Magic Eve is a short stand-alone novella about two lonely people who are brought together on Christmas Eve by a little boy Reviewed for THC Reviews One Magic Eve is a short stand-alone novella about two lonely people who are brought together on Christmas Eve by a little boy who has a special place in both their hearts. Sonja has been unfairly dubbed The Bird Lady by town gossips who don’t know about or understand her work with carrier pigeons for the U. S. army. They also think she’s the town hussy because she receives frequent visits from soldiers. She’s been attracted to local rancher Chet from afar for a while and when Chet’s young son brings an injured fox to her for treatment two days before Christmas, it gives her the opportunity she’s been longing for to get to know him better. Chet only recently found out he was the father of six-year-old Beau and doesn’t know the first thing about giving him a nice Christmas, but if he can get past his preconceived notions about Sonja, he just might discover that she can help. Some unexpected snow and a fall into the river end in these three spending the Christmas holiday together, and with a touch of holiday magic, all their wishes might come true. Sonja was a mail-order bride for a man twenty years her senior who was a former soldier training carrier pigeons for the army. Before they could be married, he was killed by a marauding Indian, but he taught her the trade that she’s carried on ever since. However, the nature of her work is secretive, so the townspeople only know that she keeps a lot of birds and has frequent visits from soldiers, leading them to gossip about her and think she’s a crazy, loose woman. In reality, she’s just a sweet, lonely person, who longs for a husband and children. She’s been crushing on Chet from afar, and hoping that one day he’ll see her as more than what the gossip mongers say about her. When Chet’s son, Beau, brings the injured fox to her, it starts to open the door for that to happen, but it’s not until the three go on an excursion to return the fox to the wild that ends with Beau falling into the river and snow driving them to take shelter at her home over the Christmas holiday that the magic of blooming love really begins. Sonja is a great heroine, who doesn’t care much what the town gossips say about her. She’s proud of her work and just wants someone to share her life with, and Chet and Beau are just what she wished for. Chet only recently found out he was a father when a man brought Beau to his door, saying that the child was the product of a brief affair he’d had years ago. He’s done his best to adjust to being an instant father, but he’s never really celebrated Christmas and doesn’t know how to make it special for a little boy. He’s been attracted to Sonja, but fears what the town gossips say about her might be true. When he finds Beau at her house, he isn’t very nice to her at first, but then he begins to realize that she’d only shown kindness to Beau and didn’t deserve his moodiness. He and Beau return on Christmas Eve to help release the fox, and a dip in the freezing river and the unexpected snowfall necessitate them spending the night at Sonja’s house. It turns into a magical evening, during which Chet realizes that Sonja is the prefect person to complete his little family. Chet was a good guy to take on the role of instant fatherhood and has done a respectable job. He may not know how to make Christmas special for Beau, but he knows where to turn for help. He may have been a little hard on Sonja at first, but he came around pretty quickly, and was properly apologetic when he found out what she’d really been doing. One Magic Eve was a sweet story about found family and the love and joy of the holiday season. I liked both Sonja and Chet and thought they made a good couple. Beau is really cute and behaved like a six-year-old does. I enjoyed the touch of Christmas magic in the rosette cookies Sonja makes and her traditional Swedish decorations. She’s the prefect mother figure for little Beau, making Christmas special with very little. My one small complaint would be that I felt the emotional connection between Sonja and Chet could have been a bit stronger. They come to the realization that they’re in love over just a couple of days which is a little fast, but I think the real issue is that I picked up on a fair bit of telling rather than showing. However, the heartwarming nature of the story kept me engaged and helped to mitigate that deficiency to some extent. So overall, I enjoyed it. "One Magic Eve" was originally published in the multi-author anthology, A Western Winter Wonderland, and was later reprinted as a stand-alone novella. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 07, 2022
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Dec 07, 2022
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Dec 08, 2022
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Kindle Edition
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| 1947268228
| 9781947268227
| B081TQ4VCD
| 4.26
| 61
| Dec 07, 2019
| Dec 07, 2019
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews Fallen Angel is a sweet, holiday-themed, western romance novella about a bounty hunter and a single mother who find love in ti Reviewed for THC Reviews Fallen Angel is a sweet, holiday-themed, western romance novella about a bounty hunter and a single mother who find love in time for Christmas. While searching for the perfect Christmas tree for her son, Abby finds herself caught up in a gunfight between the bounty hunter and an outlaw and she’s accidentally shot. Before he could see her and react, Ford had already fired at the outlaw with his bullet hitting a woman instead. He goes to her rescue and takes responsibility for Abby and her young son, Daniel. Over the next several days, he cares for them both and does everything he can to make sure they have a good Christmas. Although he finds himself developing feelings for Abby and Daniel, Ford has experienced a tremendous loss in his life, and if he can’t get over his fear of losing someone he loves again, they may not have a future together. Abby was raised in a well-to-do family back East, but following her heart left her heartbroken and alone. She married a man she thought she loved, but of whom her family didn’t approve. He turned out to be a gold-digging scoundrel who left her when it became apparent that no money would be forthcoming from her family. Disowned and with nowhere else to go, she took a position as a ladies companion to an older woman who was traveling to San Francisco, but found herself sacked and left to fend for herself in Colorado. She’s been struggling ever since to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads for the sake of her son, Daniel. Although she can’t afford much, she’s determined to give her son a nice Christmas and all he wants is the perfect tree. However, while out searching for that tree, she comes upon a gunman who points his weapon right at Daniel. Trying to save her son, Abby rushes the man, only to be shot herself. She awakens in the care of the bounty hunter who wounded her. At first, she’s afraid of this dangerous man, but as he cares for her tenderly over the next several days, she begins to discover his softer side that makes her fall for him. Abby is a great mother whose biggest priority is her son. She’s also a stubborn, determined woman who won’t let Ford get away easily. After losing his wife and daughter and feeling responsible for their deaths, Ford took up bounty hunting as a way to avenge them. He knew that it was a risky proposition, especially given that he usually goes after the most hardened criminals. However, a part of him doesn’t care if he lives or dies, until the day he accidentally shoots a woman who reminds him of an angel. Feeling terrible about what he’s done, Ford pays for Abby’s care as well as a room for her and Daniel at the hotel. There, he keeps watch over them both and does everything in his power to give them a good Christmas. Although he develops feelings for Abby along the way, Ford fears what it might do to him if he lost her and Daniel, too. It will take some determination on her part to get him to see reason and fully let them into his life and heart. Ford is a man who’s lost everything that meant anything to him, which has caused him to more or less check out on life, but Abby and Daniel bring him back to a place where he can open his heart again. Overall, Fallen Angel was a good read that I enjoyed. I liked both Abby and Ford, and little Daniel is a sweet boy who’s been raised well. Their romance was perhaps a bit rushed. It takes place over, I think, less than a week’s time, which is maybe a bit too quickly to fully believe that they could fall in love that fast. But the story was heartwarming enough to help make up for that and I did feel a connection between them. I enjoyed the little twist at the end. What Abby did to get Ford back was cute. So, overall, I had a good time reading this story. Fallen Angel is the first novella in Jenna Kernan’s Winter Wild West Weddings series, but since there were few supporting characters in the story, I’m not entirely sure how it connects to the others. I look forward to continuing the series, though, to find out. Fallen Angel was originally published in the multi-author anthology A Western Winter Wonderland and was later reprinted as a stand-alone novella. ...more |
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1
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Dec 21, 2021
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Dec 22, 2021
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Dec 23, 2021
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Kindle Edition
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| 0373294670
| 9780373294671
| 0373294670
| 3.68
| 100
| 2007
| Sep 25, 2007
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews *newest review for this anthology *Christmas Day Family by Cheryl St. John - “Christmas Day Family” is a sweet, stand-alone Reviewed for THC Reviews *newest review for this anthology *Christmas Day Family by Cheryl St. John - “Christmas Day Family” is a sweet, stand-alone novella about a doctor and a spinster who find love and create a ready-made family just in time for the holidays. Marvel runs a boarding house in the small Colorado town of Carson Bend. She’s been asked by the town council to house the new doctor who’ll soon be arriving, until the old doctor moves out of his home and office. However, she wasn’t expecting the man to be quite so disarmingly handsome or that he would have two small children in tow. She reluctantly accepts them, knowing it’s the right thing to do, but when their stay gets extended due to extensive repairs that are needed on the old doc’s quarters, Seth and his kids’ presence makes Marvel long for things she’d given up on. Seth is a widower who has sacrificed a great deal in his life, and now all he wants is to make a quiet life for himself and his children. He’s attracted to Marvel from the moment they meet and seeing how she gradually warms up to his kids makes him want her all the more. But Marvel harbors concerns over her age and a secret that makes her feel unworthy of being a wife. However, Seth isn’t easily deterred and is determined to overcome her objections in time to make her his wife for Christmas. Marvel’s parents thought they were barren, but then she came along unexpectedly when they were in their forties. She lost her mother at a young age, and then her father fell ill with a debilitating condition. Marvel essentially put her own life on hold for years, caring for him, and during that time, when money got tight, she came up with the idea of taking in boarders. It’s something she’s been doing ever since, along with playing seamstress to the ladies of the town. When the town council asked her to house the new doctor until the old one could move out, she agreed, but when he arrives, she’s shocked by his youth and the two small children he has with him. Many years ago, Marvel dreamed of having a husband and family, but she put those dreams on hold to care for her father. Having Seth and his children in her house stirs up those dreams again, but now she believes she’s too old, and a secret she harbors makes her feel unfit to be anyone’s wife. At first I wasn’t sure about Marvel, because she seemed a bit ungracious towards the kids and the family dog, but I came to understand that it was partly because she hadn’t really been around kids or dogs and probably felt a bit intimidated, and partly because it was something of a coping mechanisms to not get too close so that she wouldn’t come to care for them. However, she gradually warms up to both as the story progresses and eventually becomes the missing puzzle piece of their family. Marvel is also concerned about being older than Seth, but he slowly chips away at her reservations. Seth went back East to get his medical degree, but when his older brother fell ill, he immediately returned to Denver to help his mother and sister-in-law care for him. On his death bed, his brother made Seth promise to take care of his wife, so upon his passing, Seth married her. He cared for her in his own way, but he never truly loved her. So when she died in childbirth, he vowed never to marry again unless it was for love. After getting more than his fair share of late-night calls from unsavory types needing doctoring, Seth decided to move his little family to a smaller town, hoping for a quieter life. He’s immediately attracted to his new landlady, and as they spend evenings together, getting to know each other, he discovers a passionate woman who has put aside her own desires to care for others for far too long. As she warms up to his children, Seth also sees the perfect person to make their little family complete. But he’ll have his work cut out for him overcoming her reservations. Seth is an amazing father and a sweet, kind man who sees a side to Marvel that many others miss because she’s suppressed it for so long. He’s gentle but determined not to let her push him away. “Christmas Day Family” was a wonderful read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Cheryl St. John is very talented at building her characterizations, so that I felt like I really got to know both Seth and Marvel despite the short format of the story. Because of the shorter length, things are perhaps a tad rushed, but the author is also great at drawing out the emotion of the story so that I was convinced they were right for one another in spite of it. She also managed to pack many of my favorite tropes into one short novella, without it feeling crowded. Marvel is sweet, and although reserved at first, she warms up nicely. Her concerns were relatable and made sense for the time period. I’m so glad, though, that she didn’t allow them to prevent her from living the life she’d always wanted. I adored Seth who was more of a beta hero. He’s sweet and kind, always respectful of Marvel and her home, but not afraid to go after what he wants. The tender, passionate kisses they share warm up the pages. Seth’s children and Marvel’s two elderly boarders added just the right extra flavor to the story, too. Overall, this was the perfect, heartwarming Christmas story that didn’t disappoint. Star Rating: 5 Fallen Angel by Jenna Kernan – “Fallen Angel” is a sweet, holiday-themed, western romance novella about a bounty hunter and a single mother who find love in time for Christmas. While searching for the perfect Christmas tree for her son, Abby finds herself caught up in a gunfight between the bounty hunter and an outlaw and she’s accidentally shot. Before he could see her and react, Ford had already fired at the outlaw with his bullet hitting a woman instead. He goes to her rescue and takes responsibility for Abby and her young son, Daniel. Over the next several days, he cares for them both and does everything he can to make sure they have a good Christmas. Although he finds himself developing feelings for Abby and Daniel, Ford has experienced a tremendous loss in his life, and if he can’t get over his fear of losing someone he loves again, they may not have a future together. Abby was raised in a well-to-do family back East, but following her heart left her heartbroken and alone. She married a man she thought she loved, but of whom her family didn’t approve. He turned out to be a gold-digging scoundrel who left her when it became apparent that no money would be forthcoming from her family. Disowned and with nowhere else to go, she took a position as a ladies companion to an older woman who was traveling to San Francisco, but found herself sacked and left to fend for herself in Colorado. She’s been struggling ever since to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads for the sake of her son, Daniel. Although she can’t afford much, she’s determined to give her son a nice Christmas and all he wants is the perfect tree. However, while out searching for that tree, she comes upon a gunman who points his weapon right at Daniel. Trying to save her son, Abby rushes the man, only to be shot herself. She awakens in the care of the bounty hunter who wounded her. At first, she’s afraid of this dangerous man, but as he cares for her tenderly over the next several days, she begins to discover his softer side that makes her fall for him. Abby is a great mother whose biggest priority is her son. She’s also a stubborn, determined woman who won’t let Ford get away easily. After losing his wife and daughter and feeling responsible for their deaths, Ford took up bounty hunting as a way to avenge them. He knew that it was a risky proposition, especially given that he usually goes after the most hardened criminals. However, a part of him doesn’t care if he lives or dies, until the day he accidentally shoots a woman who reminds him of an angel. Feeling terrible about what he’s done, Ford pays for Abby’s care as well as a room for her and Daniel at the hotel. There, he keeps watch over them both and does everything in his power to give them a good Christmas. Although he develops feelings for Abby along the way, Ford fears what it might do to him if he lost her and Daniel, too. It will take some determination on her part to get him to see reason and fully let them into his life and heart. Ford is a man who’s lost everything that meant anything to him, which has caused him to more or less check out on life, but Abby and Daniel bring him back to a place where he can open his heart again. Overall, “Fallen Angel” was a good read that I enjoyed. I liked both Abby and Ford, and little Daniel is a sweet boy who’s been raised well. Their romance was perhaps a bit rushed. It takes place over, I think, less than a week’s time, which is maybe a bit too quickly to fully believe that they could fall in love that fast. But the story was heartwarming enough to help make up for that and I did feel a connection between them. I enjoyed the little twist at the end. What Abby did to get Ford back was cute. So, overall, I had a good time reading this story. “Fallen Angel” is the first novella in Jenna Kernan’s Winter Wild West Weddings series, but since there were few supporting characters in the story, I’m not entirely sure how it connects to the others. I look forward to continuing the series, though, to find out. "Fallen Angel" was originally published in this multi-author anthology and was later reprinted as a stand-alone novella. Star Rating: 4 One Magic Eve by Pam Crooks - “One Magic Eve” is a short stand-alone novella about two lonely people who are brought together on Christmas Eve by a little boy who has a special place in both their hearts. Sonja has been unfairly dubbed The Bird Lady by town gossips who don’t know about or understand her work with carrier pigeons for the U. S. army. They also think she’s the town hussy because she receives frequent visits from soldiers. She’s been attracted to local rancher Chet from afar for a while and when Chet’s young son brings an injured fox to her for treatment two days before Christmas, it gives her the opportunity she’s been longing for to get to know him better. Chet only recently found out he was the father of six-year-old Beau and doesn’t know the first thing about giving him a nice Christmas, but if he can get past his preconceived notions about Sonja, he just might discover that she can help. Some unexpected snow and a fall into the river end in these three spending the Christmas holiday together, and with a touch of holiday magic, all their wishes might come true. Sonja was a mail-order bride for a man twenty years her senior who was a former soldier training carrier pigeons for the army. Before they could be married, he was killed by a marauding Indian, but he taught her the trade that she’s carried on ever since. However, the nature of her work is secretive, so the townspeople only know that she keeps a lot of birds and has frequent visits from soldiers, leading them to gossip about her and think she’s a crazy, loose woman. In reality, she’s just a sweet, lonely person, who longs for a husband and children. She’s been crushing on Chet from afar, and hoping that one day he’ll see her as more than what the gossip mongers say about her. When Chet’s son, Beau, brings the injured fox to her, it starts to open the door for that to happen, but it’s not until the three go on an excursion to return the fox to the wild that ends with Beau falling into the river and snow driving them to take shelter at her home over the Christmas holiday that the magic of blooming love really begins. Sonja is a great heroine, who doesn’t care much what the town gossips say about her. She’s proud of her work and just wants someone to share her life with, and Chet and Beau are just what she wished for. Chet only recently found out he was a father when a man brought Beau to his door, saying that the child was the product of a brief affair he’d had years ago. He’s done his best to adjust to being an instant father, but he’s never really celebrated Christmas and doesn’t know how to make it special for a little boy. He’s been attracted to Sonja, but fears what the town gossips say about her might be true. When he finds Beau at her house, he isn’t very nice to her at first, but then he begins to realize that she’d only shown kindness to Beau and didn’t deserve his moodiness. He and Beau return on Christmas Eve to help release the fox, and a dip in the freezing river and the unexpected snowfall necessitate them spending the night at Sonja’s house. It turns into a magical evening, during which Chet realizes that Sonja is the prefect person to complete his little family. Chet was a good guy to take on the role of instant fatherhood and has done a respectable job. He may not know how to make Christmas special for Beau, but he knows where to turn for help. He may have been a little hard on Sonja at first, but he came around pretty quickly, and was properly apologetic when he found out what she’d really been doing. “One Magic Eve” was a sweet story about found family and the love and joy of the holiday season. I liked both Sonja and Chet and thought they made a good couple. Beau is really cute and behaved like a six-year-old does. I enjoyed the touch of Christmas magic in the rosette cookies Sonja makes and her traditional Swedish decorations. She’s the prefect mother figure for little Beau, making Christmas special with very little. My one small complaint would be that I felt the emotional connection between Sonja and Chet could have been a bit stronger. They come to the realization that they’re in love over just a couple of days which is a little fast, but I think the real issue is that I picked up on a fair bit of telling rather than showing. However, the heartwarming nature of the story kept me engaged and helped to mitigate that deficiency to some extent. So overall, I enjoyed it. "One Magic Eve" was originally published in this multi-author anthology and was later reprinted as a stand-alone novella. Star Rating: 4 ...more |
Notes are private!
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Dec 21, 2021
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Dec 18, 2022
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Dec 21, 2021
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0778313859
| 9780778313854
| 0778313859
| 4.25
| 16,747
| Oct 23, 2012
| Oct 23, 2012
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews "4.5 stars" My Kind of Christmas is the eighteenth novel in Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series. At the time it was first release Reviewed for THC Reviews "4.5 stars" My Kind of Christmas is the eighteenth novel in Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series. At the time it was first released in 2012, readers thought this was to be the final book of the series, but last year (2020), following the success of the Virgin River television series, Ms. Carr published another holiday-themed book, taking readers back to our favorite little town in Northern California. That now makes My Kind of Christmas the penultimate book—unless, of course, that changes at some point in the future—and this one features Patrick, the youngest and final, unmarried Riordan brother paired with Jack’s niece, Angie, who I don’t think we’ve met before. Both have decided to take a weeks-long sojourn in Virgin River leading up to the holidays to do a bit of soul searching and make major decisions about the rest of their lives. They hook up almost as soon as they both hit town and are inseparable throughout the weeks to come. But both believe it’s just a temporary, holiday fling that will end as soon as Christmas arrives, because each of them have plans that don’t involve a permanent relationship. So, it’s a matter of figuring out if they can both get on the same page in time to share, not only the perfect Christmas together, but maybe a lifetime. I honestly can’t remember if we’ve seen Patrick in any of the previous books or not. He likely was in one or more of his four brothers’ books, but even if he was, we probably didn’t get a good sense of who he was as a character. Like all his brothers, he’s in the military, a Navy flyer who just recently lost his best friend and wingman, Jake, who was shot down during a combat mission. Still struggling with his grief and feeling responsible, he was given six weeks leave to get his head on straight. He chose to hang out in Virgin River, knowing that his entire family was planning on going to San Diego for the holiday, so he’d be alone to think about whether he wants to take the reassignment that he knows is coming or get out of the military altogether. Patrick also promised Jake that if anything ever happened to him, he’d look out for his wife and son, and he’s planning to ask Marie to marry him, thinking that’s the best way to honor his promise. But then a beautiful, vivacious, young woman, ten years his junior, shows up in town, catching his eye. Patrick thinks she’s too young for him. He also knows he can’t offer anything more than a holiday fling and that he shouldn’t get involved, but he just can’t seem to help himself whenever she’s around. They bond over their shared pain and struggles and Angie proves to be far more mature than her years, making Patrick want more, but he can’t break his word of honor to the friend who meant everything to him. Patrick is described in the cover blurb as the gentle, sweet-natured Riordan brother, and I think on some level that’s true. However, I usually associate those words with beta heroes, while Patrick is kind of a mix of alpha and beta. He has a stubborn, clueless alpha streak going where Marie is concerned, making plans to marry her and create a future together without really asking her what she thinks about it. But when it comes to Angie, his beta side comes through most of the time. I like how he wants to help out with her project and with the Christmas preparations around town. It’s also easy to tell that he’s rapidly developing feelings for her even though he says he’s sticking to his stubborn path. Eventually he figures it all out, though, and makes a grand, romantic gesture to solidify it, which was sweet. Angie has just recovered from a near-fatal car accident. Prior to that, she’d been a med student at USC, but her near-death experience has left her uncertain if this is the path she still wants to take. Add in a pushy mother who’s insisting that there must be something medically wrong for her to want to make such a drastic change, and Angie desperately needs a break from life. She decides to visit her Uncle Jack and Aunt Brie in Virgin River to get a little space and think about what to do next with her life. Minutes after arriving in town, she spots the scrumptious Patrick at Jack’s bar and boldly starts talking to him. They hit it off and can’t seem to get enough of each other. Patrick is up front with Angie from the start that it can’t be anything other than a temporary relationship, but she’s crazy enough about him to want to keep going in spite of knowing it will hurt to say goodbye. While sharing her nights with Patrick, Angie spends her days helping Mel in the clinic where she meets a little girl with a disfiguring facial scar that inspires her to step out of her comfort zone, moving heaven and earth to make sure the girl gets the plastic surgery she needs but that her parent’s can’t afford. The only small issue I had with Angie is Robyn Carr’s tendency to tell her readers that a characters is shy or introverted, but then little or nothing about them shows that they are. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. From the beginning, Angie exhibits a bubbly, energetic personality that I connected with. I like that when she saw Patrick, she went after what she wanted, and that when she saw little Megan’s need, she likewise tackled the problem with gusto. I also like that she wants to make a difference in the world and explores different ways in which she might be able to do that. I additionally appreciated her maturity when it came to her relationship with Patrick and not having unrealistic expectations, even though it was obvious that she’d seriously fallen for him. My Kind of Christmas is a great addition to the Virgin River series. Some of the more recent books of the series have been good but not spectacular for me, but this one broke out of that mold a little bit, reminding me of the heartwarming nature of the town and it’s inhabitants that we saw more of early on. It once again showcases the town pulling together, not only to welcome visitors coming from far and wide to visit their beautiful Christmas tree, but also to provide much-needed assistance to families in need within the community. Angie’s mission to make sure Megan received the needed surgery added a more personal touch to the community outreach that gave me warm fuzzies. Patrick and Angie as a couple are great together. Their relationship exhibits a warmth and familiarity that one might expect with a couple who’ve known each other longer that really made it romantic even though they insist it isn’t a long-term thing. Their stark honesty with one another was refreshing, allowing trust to build, and the way they support each other was sweet and heartfelt, leaving me with no doubt that they would make it work in spite of the potential obstacles. The Riordan and Sheridan clans, along with several other townspeople, some of whom we haven't seen much of lately, made for a great supporting cast and a real treat for long-time fans. Aside from my already cited minor critiques, the only reasons I didn’t give the book the full five stars is that the conflict wasn’t my favorite type and also there’s a certain sameness in Robyn Carr’s characters and stories with many being about that soul-searching journey. Admittedly it can sometimes be a winning formula, but other times, I’d like to mix it up a little more. Otherwise, though, My Kind of Christmas was a cheerful, uplifting story that was a charming entry into my holiday-themed reading and one from this series that will go on my keeper shelf. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 15, 2021
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Dec 20, 2021
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Dec 15, 2021
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 4.15
| 15,391
| Dec 15, 2012
| Dec 15, 2012
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews "4.5 stars" An On Dublin Street Christmas is a holiday-themed short story featuring Braden and Jocelyn that takes place nearly Reviewed for THC Reviews "4.5 stars" An On Dublin Street Christmas is a holiday-themed short story featuring Braden and Jocelyn that takes place nearly a year after the close of their story in On Dublin Street. It’s the first Christmas they’ve actually spent together, since they were broken up during the previous holiday season. Jocelyn recalls the sexy way in which Braden woke her up that morning. Then they exchange meaningful gifts with each other, followed by a family celebration at Ellie’s parents’ house. This was a pretty short story of only about six pages, but I enjoyed seeing Braden and Jocelyn a while after their HEA, still going strong. It was also nice to see that Jocelyn has made progress on her issues and although she still misses her family, it’s become a little easier for her to see photos of them and remember the good times. I particularly like the thoughtful gifts that Braden gave her. Overall, this was a nice little extra for fans of the series. An On Dublin Street Christmas is available as a free online read or it can be found in the anthologies On Dublin Street: The Bonus Material and On Dublin Street: The Novellas. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 14, 2021
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Dec 14, 2021
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Dec 14, 2021
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ebook
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| 0778325156
| 9780778325154
| 0778325156
| 4.12
| 3,965
| Jan 01, 2007
| Sep 18, 2007
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews Where Angels Go is the sixth book in Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere series featuring the mischievous angel trio of Shirle Reviewed for THC Reviews Where Angels Go is the sixth book in Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere series featuring the mischievous angel trio of Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy. The last couple of books in the series only had a single storyline that all three angels worked on together, but this one takes the series back to its roots with each angel working on a different case and occasionally coming together to offer advice. As always, the archangel Gabriel is overwhelmed with prayer requests during the holiday season, so he decides to send Prayer Ambassadors Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy to handle three of them. In the beginning this threesome often got into trouble, but over time, Gabriel has come to trust them more and rely on them in spite of the mischief they can sometimes get into. Mercy is sent to work with elderly couple Harry and Rosalie. Harry has a bad heart and knows that his time on Earth is drawing to a close, and according to his doctor, it could be any day. With Rosalie becoming more forgetful, he wants to make sure that she’s taken care of when he passes on. He’s found a nice assisted living facility where many of their old friends now live, but convincing Rosalie to move out of the home they’ve shared for most of their lives is proving to be difficult. Harry asks for divine intervention to help Rosalie come to terms with it, so that he can pass on with peace of mind. This is a bittersweet little story, sweet because of how much Harry and Rosalie still love each other after all their many years together, but bitter because the life they’ve shared is about to end. I admired their devotion to one another and shed a few tears at the end even though I knew what was coming and it was rendered as gently as possible. Gabriel receives a prayer request from Beth’s mother that she’ll be able to move on from her divorce and find a man to share her life with, and he tasks Goodness with making it happen. Beth got married young, and the couple’s shared immaturity prematurely ended their union. However, despite nine years having passed, Beth still finds it difficult to move on and hasn’t had much luck dating other men. For the last several months, she’s been involved in online gaming, playing World of Warcraft, where she’s found the perfect game partner. When her mother starts pestering her about bringing a guy home for Christmas, Beth starts to wonder if Peter, the man she’s been playing the game with, could be a potential life partner as well. They begin sharing more personal information, and when she discovers that he lives in Seattle, too, they make plans to meet in person. But upon coming face-to-face, she realizes he’s someone she already knows and isn’t sure a relationship will work out after all. Out of the three stories in this book, this is the only one that has a more traditional romance plot. But despite that, I think it may have been my least favorite. It’s not that I didn’t like. I did, but somehow it seemed a little underdeveloped for a romance. The magic that the angels bring to the story made it a bit more believable, but IMHO, there still wasn’t quite enough time for Beth and Peter to really come to a reconciliation. There also weren’t enough pages to develop a deep emotional connection between them. The final storyline is Shirley’s. She’s sent to Earth to answer the prayer of Carter, a little boy who desperately wants a dog for Christmas. His parents have been promising him one, but due to financial hardships, they’ve had to, once again, turn him down. Then Carter finds a stray dog on the playground at school, which he names Rusty. The dog miraculously follows him home, and he thinks that if he pleads his case, his parents might let him keep Rusty. Unfortunately his dad is adamant that Rusty will have to go to the shelter, but Rusty’s heroic actions just might change his mind. This was a super-sweet story, that while somewhat predictable, ended up being my favorite. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for animal stories and cute kids, but I found this one to be rather charming. As always, Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy can’t help themselves when it comes to their whimsical natures. They pull a couple of harmless pranks, all in good fun, but overall, they’ve matured as the series has progressed, learning to rely more on Gabriel and God when things aren’t going according to plan. Overall, Where Angels Go was an enjoyable trio of stories that kicked off my holiday-themed reading nicely. I look forward to seeing what trouble they might get into next in the final book of the series, Angels at the Table, but I’ll probably save it for next Christmas. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Dec 10, 2021
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Dec 13, 2021
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Dec 10, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 4.15
| 2,942
| Dec 21, 2012
| Dec 21, 2012
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it was amazing
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Reviewed for THC Reviews “Christmas in the Kitchen” is a very short story of only about five pages that slots in between Blaze of Memory and Bonds of J Reviewed for THC Reviews “Christmas in the Kitchen” is a very short story of only about five pages that slots in between Blaze of Memory and Bonds of Justice in the Psy-Changeling series chronology. It takes place at Dorian and Ashaya’s house with Tally and Clay joining them along with their kids and Kit, one of the young soldiers of the DarkRiver pack. Ashaya is baking up a storm in preparation for the upcoming pack Christmas party, but everyone is stealing her delicious baked goods. Ultimately this leads to a little challenge between the two men as to who can bake a better cake. This was a really cute slice-of-life story that was a fun read. Clay and Tally are one of my favorite couples, so I enjoyed seeing them again. I also enjoyed the interactions between the two couples and their kids, along with the Christmas theme. Overall, it was a nice little read. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Jul 30, 2021
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Jul 30, 2021
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Jul 31, 2021
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Unbound
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| 0373711646
| 9780373711642
| 0373711646
| 4.21
| 1,867
| Jan 01, 2003
| Nov 01, 2003
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really liked it
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Reviewed for THC Reviews Those Christmas Angels is the fifth book of Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere holiday-themed series, which returns to its mo Reviewed for THC Reviews Those Christmas Angels is the fifth book of Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere holiday-themed series, which returns to its mostly romantic roots. In this one we have Roy Fletcher, a businessman who is deeply cynical about love and relationships following a devastating betrayal that affected both him and his mother, Anne. But Anne has come to terms with it and prays that her son will, too, so that he’ll be able find someone he can truly love and trust. Her prayer request lands on the desk of the archangel, Gabriel, who assigns Shirley, Goodness and Mercy to the case. They’re thrilled to be matchmaking again, but initially disagree over who would be the best match for Roy. Then along comes Julie Wilcoff, the daughter of Roy’s newly hired chief of security. Their first meeting is anything but cordial. In spite of that, though, Mercy thinks they’d be a perfect fit, so the angels engineer a little accident, which only ratchets up the tension between Roy and Julie. But eventually they find their way to a more romantic place that looks like it’s going to lead to an HEA if only Roy can overcome his distrust of women. Roy is a successful businessman who several years ago had a serious relationship with a woman named Aimee. They were on the path to getting married until Aimee met Roy’s father, Burton, and from there, things went downhill. Burton and Aimee had an affair that turned into devastation and broken hearts for Roy and his mother, Anne, when both their relationships crumbled, and Anne was cheated out of a fair divorce settlement. Since then, Anne has picked up the pieces of her life and has reinvented herself as an artist, making a modest living, but Roy has languished in bitterness and cynicism. Anne’s Christmas wish is for Roy to find a woman who can love him for himself and who he can trust and love in return. After hiring a new head of security, Roy has a chance meeting with the man’s daughter, Julie, in which he’s pretty rude about her presence on his property. From there, the angel trio creates an accident in which Julie is thrown from her bike and it appears that Roy may have hit her with his car. The two argue incessantly over who was at fault, and although he admits no wrongdoing, Roy decides to head off an expected lawsuit by paying Julie off. Incensed that he would be so distrustful, she refuses his money, and gradually Roy starts to open his heart to her, thinking that she really is different. Romance begins to blossom, but when Julie refuses an offer to move in with Roy, his old tendency to distrust starts rearing its ugly head again, leading to a breakup in need of a Christmas miracle to get their relationship back on track. Although Roy has good reasons for being so cynical, I had a hard time really liking him because he takes it to a level that’s pretty sexist, lumping all women into the lying, cheating category with his ex. He’s emotionally closed off, and when in a pique of anger, can say some rather mean things. The only thing that saved his character for me is that he has a few softer, more vulnerable moments, and he does eventually come to his senses. But I would have liked it even better if he’d groveled a bit more once he did. Julie is a PE teacher and soccer coach who’s been very athletic all her life. She’s quite tall and larger-boned for a woman, so she’s never had the male attention that her more petite, prettier sister did. She recently lost her mother and has been living with her dad ever since to help him out with the bills and to find comfort in their shared grief. Her father is finally ready to go back to work and gets hired by Roy to head up security at Fletcher Industries. Julie first meets Roy when she carpools part-way to work with her father, who drops her off in front of the building so she can bike the rest of the way. Roy rudely questions her presence there, leaving the impression that he’s an ogre. Then later there’s the bike accident. When Julie receives the settlement offer in the mail, she’s incensed, marching right into Roy’s office to give him a piece of her mind, which only gets her forcibly thrown out of the building. However, as time goes on, she and Roy start to come to an understanding, which leads to friendship and a little romance. But when Julie refuses his offer to move in with him, he thinks she’s angling for more money. After trying to reason with him and getting nowhere, she’s finally had enough, leaving the angels with their work cut out for them getting these two back together in time for Christmas. Julie is a tough cookie who’s weathered through the death of her mother admirably. She’s a bit of a spitfire who doesn’t put up with Roy’s shenanigans, but she also recognizes how hurt he was in the past and tries to help him overcome that by being a good person and proving she doesn’t want his money. I’m not sure if I could have dealt with his cynical nature as long as she did, but I admire her for staying true to herself, which eventually was what turned Roy around. Those Christmas Angels was a pretty good read. I felt like the romance between Roy and Julie could have been developed a little better by either making the book a bit longer or by paring down Anne’s part in it. Roy’s mom gets a decent amount of page time and POV scenes in her own little subplot. After Shirley allows Anne to see her, the woman paints an angel, which her friend, who’s an art dealer, works on selling for her. I liked how Anne and Roy were able to find a bit of karma through that part of the story, but it did take away from Roy and Julie’s time together. The story takes place over only a month’s time, so their romance is a bit quick for two people who start out basically hating each other to come to a point of, not just falling in love, but being ready for marriage as well. However, the magic that the angels bring to the story and its generally heartwarming nature helped me to suspend disbelief to some extent. I just wish they’d had a few more scenes together to build both their characterizations and their romantic connection. Overall, I liked the story despite it’s extremely prickly hero and I enjoyed having another visit with Shirley, Goodness and Mercy who, while still rather mischievous, seemed a little better behaved this time around.:-) ...more |
Notes are private!
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Dec 17, 2020
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Dec 22, 2020
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Dec 17, 2020
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 4.31
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really liked it
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Dec 14, 2017
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Sep 24, 2024
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| 4.31
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really liked it
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Dec 14, 2020
not set
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Sep 20, 2024
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| 3.71
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really liked it
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Dec 06, 2018
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Jul 25, 2024
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it was amazing
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Dec 26, 2023
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Dec 22, 2023
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| 4.11
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Dec 21, 2023
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Dec 16, 2023
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| 3.29
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really liked it
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Dec 15, 2023
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Dec 15, 2023
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| 3.75
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really liked it
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Dec 14, 2023
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Dec 09, 2023
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| 3.84
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liked it
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Dec 08, 2023
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Dec 07, 2023
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| 4.23
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really liked it
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Dec 24, 2022
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Dec 19, 2022
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| 3.98
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it was amazing
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Dec 16, 2022
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Dec 14, 2022
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| 3.57
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liked it
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Dec 14, 2022
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Dec 12, 2022
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| 3.85
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really liked it
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Dec 11, 2022
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Dec 08, 2022
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| 4.43
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really liked it
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Dec 07, 2022
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Dec 08, 2022
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| 4.26
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really liked it
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Dec 22, 2021
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Dec 23, 2021
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| 3.68
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really liked it
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Dec 18, 2022
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Dec 21, 2021
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| 4.25
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really liked it
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Dec 20, 2021
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Dec 15, 2021
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| 4.15
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really liked it
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Dec 14, 2021
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Dec 14, 2021
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| 4.12
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really liked it
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Dec 13, 2021
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Dec 10, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.15
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 30, 2021
|
Jul 31, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.21
|
really liked it
|
Dec 22, 2020
|
Dec 17, 2020
|
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